White Petals
by A. Rodgers
Summary: A mysterious admirer has been sending Dr. Dana Scully a box of white roses every month. Suddenly they stop coming. Against Mulder's advice, she sets out to find out why. She must rediscover the identity of a man she was forced to forget.
1. Chapter 1

**White Petals** by Amelia Rodgers with 'Ed Straker' 2016 all rights reserved

This is a X Files UFO crossover story

This story is a sequel to my work White Roses  s/5986737/1/White-Roses but they don't necessarily have to be read in order.

The concept of Straker's shoulder injury is the property of Deborah Rorabaugh of the SHADO Library.

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, concepts and plot are the property of the authors. The concept of SHADO Aegis Security Systems and SHADO Chrysalis Project also belong to the authors.

The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Not to be used without authors' permission.

Dedicated to readers Barbarossa Rotbart and Regina Zdrojkowsa Calway who specifically requested I do a sequel. I do hope you like it. My readers mean a lot to me.

I've set SHADO and X Files in present day. I don't follow canon or a timeline strictly for dramatic license. These are my interpretations of the characters.

 **Previously in White Roses**

 **Chapter One: The Fresh Faced Man**

 **Annapolis, Maryland**

 **Dr. Dana Scully's apartment no. 35**

Dana Scully pulled on her fuzzy robe over her pajamas, then sleepily answered the door, more than a bit irritated at having her intention of not waking as early as she normally did ruined. Her Sunday plan was to go to afternoon Mass then to the family home that evening for a barbeque. If this was one of Mulder's interruptions he better have a good reason for it. Out of self preservation she slipped her Sig Sauer 228 semi automatic pistol into a pocket and had a quick look through her wide angle security viewer.

It was only a fresh faced young man carrying a clipboard and a rectangular shaped gold box. She unchained the door, opened it a fraction and looked at him expectantly.

"Dr. Dana Scully?" he asked. Mr. Ruin her beauty sleep had on a worn denim cap, grey hoodie, a rumpled gaudy polka dotted tee shirt, black scuffed trainers and worn brown jeans. His outfit looked like it had been ironed by a garbage truck rolling over it. He had on funky brown knit gloves to complete his unenviable ensemble, and he and his outfit appeared as tired as she felt.

What he didn't possess was any trace of a fashion sense. What he **did** possess were the largest eyes she had ever seen. They made him seem like an anime hero straight out of a cosplay convention.

"Yes, that's me."

"Package for you. Sign here, please."

Scully scribbled her name, and the delivery guy handed her the gold box.

"Have a nice day, Maam."

"You too."

Dana Scully closed the door, brought the box into her home office area. After the stray thought that she should have it examined by the FBI lab, she shook it cautiously. It was lightweight. Her partner Mulder would warn her that accepting a strange package wasn't the safest of practices. For once, her curiosity won over FBI training. Mulder wouldn't be thrilled about that either. To tell the truth neither was she.

She broke open the scotch tape that held it shut, opened it and looked under the green paper. The aroma had been immediate and unmistakable. A dozen long stemmed white roses lie in the box. There was no card. Not Mulder's style, she decided. Even though February fourteenth wasn't that far away.

Scully took one rose out, smelled it. She smiled. So she had some secret admirer. Then she sighed. Mulder would just say it was connected to a case they were working on, or had worked on. Just another X file.

 **The Man With Anime Eyes**

 **Annapolis, Maryland**

 **A block from Dr. Dana Scully's apartment**

The stranger Dana Scully had considered a fresh faced young man with anime eyes reluctantly stepped away from her front door, and walked purposefully away toward a automobile he had hired especially for the occasion. He paused, stopped for a moment, and tossed the clipboard into a refuse bin he'd spotted. He folded the paper she had signed and placed it gently into his trouser pocket like the treasure he considered it to be.

There was another somewhat older man already waiting patiently in the car. This second man had skin which resembled a golf ball that had seen far too many holes in one. He gazed up at anime eyes man, looking irritated as he watched him slide into the driver's seat, toss the cheap gloves aside, retrieve a pair of brown leather driving gloves from a glove box, and slide them on after removing the dark contact lenses he'd been wearing. The anime eyes were now definitely blue. He accepted the keys from the older man and started up the engine.

" I can feel your disapproval of my masquerade as intensely as I feel the Maryland cold. I just wanted to see her again. I want her looked after, Alec. Will you arrange it for me?"

"You don't want SHADO intelligence to handle her-no of course not. Haven't I heard you say rank has its privileges?"

"Not in private affairs of the heart. I once used SHADO aircraft to intercede in a personal matter-"

"Your son was dying, exceptions could be made to your damn rule book, after all you built SHADO from the ground up and you wrote most of it. Your child Johnny had been fatally struck by a car. Which I had to find out from Miss Ealand. I could have killed you." Alec grumbled, looking out the window at the Annapolis streets which whizzed by.

"Alec, I've told you before. Why would I force the pain of my decision on you? I gambled, I lost. I wanted only to spare you grief, instead I live with the knowledge that I injured you. You were simply being loyal and doing your duty by diverting that transporter. Let me do mine."

"Ed, that Scully woman _loved_ you. Really loved you. You could have a real future with her without abandoning your duty. We both know marrying Mary Rutland was a huge mistake, but you seemed so happy."

"No more unpleasant memories and no more arguments, Alec. My shoulder aches like hell, and I'm tired and I-"

"Look ridiculous in those cheap clothes you bought from the local Goodwill thrift store?" Alec suggested jokingly, not wanting to hurt his friend further.

Commander Edward Straker flashed a thin crescent of a smile.

"I would have thought you'd say I looked like a civilian. Like a lowly delivery boy, although I'm no boy anymore. I'm beginning to doubt I ever was one, especially in this cold." The Commander winced and rubbed his shoulder.

"Middle age is no death sentence, Commander. A lifetime of loneliness _**is**_." Alec said seriously.

"Alec, when have I ever settled for middle anything?"

"Ed, it isn't like the pair are a security threat, she's FBI."

"Is she? I hadn't noticed. "

"You? Not notice anything? Like I've heard you say, tell me another one. For heaven's sake take off that awful cap. Seeing you in those clothes gives me a bigger headache than you do. Why not simply come out and tell her you love her?"

" After the amnesia treatment we gave to both of them? Right. Complicate both our lives even more. Besides, you know perfectly well she and Mulder-"

"Are eternally suited for one another? Bah. I read Jackson's profile and our surveillance report on them same as you did. He takes her too much for granted." Alec insisted.

"I don't see any possibility of any man fortunate enough to work with _**that**_ woman ever taking her for granted. If that's really the case then maybe-" Ed sounded wistful for a moment.

Alec took it as a positive sign.

"Then you will turn this car back and sweep her into your arms where she belongs?"

"Alec, you've been watching too many of the studio soap operas we put out. You know the ones. Where the gorgeous leading lady splits the atom, cures cancer, gets her millionaire, breaks horses, manages a multi-national company and brings about world peace. All without mussing up her pancake makeup."

"Ed Straker, stop joking and changing the subject!"

"Alec?"

"Let me guess. Shut up?

"Well, that too yes, yes. I was actually going to say you were absolutely right." Ed said thoughtfully. The commander clamped his lips together into a slash to smother his feelings. Alec had seen his closest friend do that far too many times before.

"Ed, then come on, be reasonable and forget what you consider to be your duty for once and turn the damn car-"

"Right about this cap, that is. Here. My present to you. It doesn't suit a man of my advanced age at all."

Ed took it off, and without taking his eyes off the road, he plopped it on Alec's head.

Alec muttered as many swear words as he could, and being an ex combat pilot, Ed mused with some amusement, Alec knew many of them. In various languages, too.

 _Alec thought my loneliness was a death sentence. Well, Dana, I can only hope death arrives to claim me swiftly, because strangely I find it difficult to continue to breathe without you. However unprofessional and uncharacteristic of me that may seem, I find it to be the truth._

 **Buried Beneath Blooms**

 **Annapolis, Maryland**

 **several months later**

 **Dr. Dana Scully's apartment**

Her doorbell rang.

Federal Agent Fox Mulder had been intently examining a document while his partner Dana Scully had been carefully going over some grainy photographs with an magnifying glass. She accomplished this with the same enthusiasm she showed for infomercials on television when sleep eluded her. Which lately was often. Too often, she thought.

"You expecting somebody, Scully?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Scully's confirmation hadn't been offered freely.

Mulder looked at her in bafflement as she leapt up to go and answer it. He'd seen dogs run for their master's thrown ball with the same speed and if Scully actually was a dog, she'd be wagging her tail. His partner had seemed to be in a rising state of anxiety about something for the past few weeks and disinterested in her job. She'd dropped the photographs in her urgency to get to her door and they fluttered to the floor.

He heard the door open then shut. He had gotten up to see what was going on, but she interrupted him by coming into the room.

"It's nothing, Mulder."

She said it in the same way she often said shut up Mulder, he thought. It won't be that easy, Scully.

"So it wasn't the Avon lady? Damn, and me completely out of eyeshadow. Nothing, huh? There's a gold box in your hand. Not that I'd even ask about it. I respect your privacy too much, Scully. So I'm asking now. Sue me. Roses?"

Dana Scully had been tearing the box open as if her life depended on it.

"How did you know?" she exclaimed.

He blinked.

"Maybe they didn't teach you these things at the University of Maryland but flowers generally have a scent. Roses?"

"Very funny, Mulder. Oh my God" Scully shut the box closed.

"What?"

"I said it was nothing!"

Scully was shaking. As a matter of fact, since they'd gone to England to investigate a case which had ended without any firm evidence, she'd been as jumpy as bubbles in boiling water.

"I'm not letting this one go, Scully. Let me help you. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

She sighed.

 _Yes, Mulder and I don't understand why._

"No."she lied expertly. The problem was he was the expert. On her.

"Now tell me the **truth**. Remember me, your partner, the truth is out there guy?"

"Mulder, every month since our trip to England, I've been receiving this same gold box, with these same long stemmed white roses in it. There's never a card, no address, no indication whatsoever of where the flowers come from. Then they stopped. They just stopped. No explanation at all. I confess I had been looking forward to them coming. Three months went by and nothing."

"Scully, I don't have to lecture you about the psychological profile of a person doing something like this, do I? Some nut case develops an obsession with you and you decided not to confide in me?"

"Mulder, is it so difficult to believe that I could simply have a secret admirer? Besides, I did take the box, wrapping and roses to the labs at Quantico. The technicians said everything was completely clean. They said that was unheard of. It was like the sender or senders had taken the finest pains to make sure that I never discovered their identity. The roses were roses. The box was a box. There was nothing to harm me. So the only obsessive person here is me. Mulder, I found out that white roses have different meanings. They're often used at weddings to signify fidelity and promise. They can mean a secret promise between the giver and the recipient. They mean purity, innocence and humility. A chaste love from the soul, not the body."

"Scully, let me cut through all the romantic crap florists say at this time of year to push sales and remind you if this chaste subject of yours managed to hide everything so well, it means they more than likely are professional and familiar with the art of concealment, and concealment begins with con and that spells trouble."

"Mulder, does everything in the world need to be a X file?"

"Will you listen to me, Scully? If this nutcase okay, unknown person felt so passionately and purely about you, why not come out and tell you? Why conceal their identity so elaborately?"

"Maybe it's somebody that genuinely needs to conceal who they are, Mulder. We've worked with a lot of intelligence organizations, heads of state, law enforcement agencies-maybe even someone we put in prison-"

"Oh come **on** , Scully. That kind of extreme cover-up of their origin isn't possible in prison, and you know that perfectly well. It's like you want to come up with a perfectly sane excuse for this lunatic. Maybe it's just some clever guy with an itch for you he can't scratch because he has a wife and seven kids and a reputation to protect. Some creepy politician. Your average demented stalker, and romance has nothing to do with it."

"Mulder, maybe he is simply shy."

"So why does this innocent shy admirer of yours suddenly stop what he's been doing? That doesn't make any sense. Cupid ran out of arrows? How do you explain that?"

"I don't know."

"Look, give everything to me. I'll bet my pals the Lone Gunmen can find out what even our FBI labs couldn't."

"Yes, Mulder, I know, their Kung-Fu is the best and Quantico's trace evidence technicians are raw imbeciles in your esteemed opinion but this is _my_ case now. I'll handle it."

"Scully, you're not seeing the danger in this clearly enough and you've been jumpy for months now. I'm worried about you, that's all."

" Mulder, are you suggesting I don't know what I'm doing? Take your documents and photographs and go work on your precious monster sighting case. I'm working this one alone."

"Scully, I depend on you to be my sieve and find the bling in the bullshit when I get too worked up, but you're acting irrationally over this. You're too emotionally involved. I almost expect you to break out in a couple of lyrics of 'You don't bring me flowers anymore."

"Mulder, I presume you know what a door is? Use it."

"Something startled you a few minutes ago. You exclaimed 'Oh my God."

"Mulder, I carry a pistol and I'm a expert shot plus I run faster than you do. Even in high heels."

"Right. Have it your way, wonder woman. You know I'm here for you if you run into trouble." He gathered up the photographs and police report and put them back in their file folder.

"Oh and Mulder, I'm warning you, don't even think about following me."

She slammed the door shut. She took a deep breath, got a pair of latex gloves from a desk drawer, snapped them on and opened the box again, searching desperately for what was inside.

She had seen something all right. The first real clue she'd gotten. She lifted it up.

A blank index card had been buried beneath the white blooms. With four words scrawled in an angular handwriting. Now that she could see them clearly, they appeared to have been put there in black ink with a fountain pen.

 **I NEED YOU DANA**

" _Oh my God."_ Scully whispered. " _Oh my God_." she repeated.

Some inner instinct, hunch, training, feminine intuition, call it what you will, told her the index card would be as pristine as the roses, not marred by fingerprints.

 _Why do I feel as if I know exactly who you are and you're slipping away from me? Why?_

She clung compulsively to the card as if it was a dying lover's hand.

Story will be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two SQUIRRELLY MULDER, FBI.

Somewhere in the Oregon Woods

"Japs, Mr. Muldew! You hear of a little skirmish called Pearl Harbor? Now American kids shell out cash to go see Japanese pornographic cartoons called enemy and read their books. If you ask me those Japs with their fork tine eyes should be put back in those-what did they call them?"  
"Internment camps, Mr. Preston. And my name is Mulder. I think you mistook anime for enemy. Interesting as your military record is-"  
"You FBI types investigate dem yellow skinned Japs? Next door neighbor is a Jap. I think he's stealing my cable."  
"Mr. Preston actually I'm just interested in the locals' stories about seeing a hairy monster in these woods."  
"Monsters? You bet those Japs were monsters. Now you're talking. I like you, Mildew boy."  
"Mr. Preston, you and your totally silent wife there have been very helpful. Have a nice one."  
Federal agent Fox Mulder narrowly made his escape. An Asian gentleman stood on a porch nearby, sweeping leaves off his door mat. He looked at Mulder quizzically.  
"How's your sanity after spending ten minutes with that kook? Got any left? Is he still claiming I steal his cable? Want an ice cold soda on a hot day? Come on in."  
"Thanks. "  
"Ben Ogawa."  
" Agent Fox Mulder." They shook hands. Ben closed the screen door after they entered his two story house. It was far from a pagoda. It looked like it was stuck in a 50's timewarp.  
"You notice that Mr. Preston's wife never says anything? Here, sit down. Coke, plenty of ice. My wife is out visiting some friends so I'm stuck doing housework, preparing our house for the year of the Monkey. She's Chinese. I don't set my watch by all this superstition of hers, but anything that makes her happy makes me happy too. We're a retired couple. First day we got the place built, I introduced myself and the wife. The kook wasn't home, probably off shooting small animals, because don't you know, the squirrels are all red communists in disguise. Mrs. Preston looked at me as if I was going to pull a samurai sword out and cut her head off. A lot she knows. Even my wife's crochet hooks make me nervous. I have the theory her husband cut off her tongue because he saw a round red spot on it and thought it was the Japanese flag. If I'm not prying, what's an FBI agent out of smog filled Washington doing out here in fresh air tree hugging land? "  
"I'm one half of a division in the FBI that investigates the paranormal. My partner Dr. Dana Scully is working another case. Ben, have you heard anything recently about monster sightings?" Mulder took several sips from his glass, found he was more thirsty than he thought. For the twenty minutes he'd wasted with Preston, the bigot had been gulping down beer into a belly that looked tailor made for it. He hadn't even offered Mulder an empty can.  
Mulder finished his coke gratefully.  
" Sure. High school kids in town some miles from here have sworn they've seen one in these woods. Scared as hell. Now and then I feel like something's watching me when I hike in the woods for exercise, but nothing has ever come after me. If there is a monster, it isn't interested in me. Just high schoolers. Made me wonder if it isn't just some kind of prank. Mind, I don't scare easily and I run fast. More coke?"  
"No thanks. So do you believe something's really out there?"  
" I know when I'm being followed, so yeah. I'm pretty level headed, and I'm not prone to letting my imagination run wild. Something frightened the hell out of those kids. Something hairy, something big. Too bad it doesn't eat Mr. Preston, but its probably a vegetarian with my luck. Anything more I can do for ya, Fox?"  
"No, thanks for the info. I interviewed the kids at the school and they pretty much said the same thing. Have a good day Ben. It was a pleasure meeting you."  
"If you find yourself talking again to that wobble bellied weirdo next door, could you tell him I'm the last Japanese shogun or something? Give him something new to rant about."  
Mulder chuckled.  
"Mr. Ogawa, come to think of it, I noticed something odd when I came into your living room."  
"The fact that we don't own a TV? We're old fashioned, Fox. We listen to music and read. But that nutcase still thinks I steal his cable! Can you believe it?"  
Mulder laughed. "So long."  
"Bye."  
Mulder left, jotted a few notes into a pocket notebook, paused. A squirrel regarded him suspiciously for a few minutes. You frustrated with this case too? They all saw something, but there's no evidence to back it up.

"Got any advice? " Mulder asked it.

It gave its tail a few shakes and scampered up a tree. Mulder pulled out a smartphone. For his effort he was hit on the head with a small rock. He shoved the phone into a jeans pocket, reached for his pistol, turned. Nothing. The rock had a paper on it, held in place with a rubber band. The squirrel was his first suspect, but squirrels weren't exactly known for attacking FBI agents. Mulder had a sudden thought. Maybe the squirrel had mistaken him for Mr. Preston and was bent on revenge. Scully would say I'm the one getting squirrelly in this heat. Let's see what we have here. He removed the paper.

It said I know where the monster lives.

"Who threw this? Its okay I won't hurt you, I just want to ask you some questions." He shouted.  
A few more rocks fell. Mulder shielded his eyes with a hand and looked up. Even filtered by leaves, the sun made his eyes sting. Something shimmied down a tree to face him. Boy, ten or eleven.

"Hi. "  
" Hi back. Want to tell me your name?" Mulder smiled.  
" Scott. Am I in trouble? "  
" Nope. I caused a lot of mischief when I was your age too. I survived. I could sure use some help with this case. The squirrels aren't cooperating with the government. That's a Federal offense. We'd arrest them but we ran out of handcuffs that tiny."

The boy grinned.

"I like them. I take pictures of them. I'm going to be a nature photographer when I grow up. That fat space case you were talking to tries to kill them but he can't shoot straight and still claims to anyone dumb enough to listen that he saw action in the Pacific. I doubt he can even spell skirmish and the only thing he saw was a war movie.. I throw rocks at him from the trees and he goes crazy trying to find me. He's a rotten old coot. Ben and his wife are nice. He's pretty retro though. I can't imagine not having a TV. He doesn't even have a laptop "  
The boy said it in disbelief as if he'd seen the Asian eating babies with his tea, Mulder noticed.  
"Your note said you knew where the monster lives."  
" Yeah. It doesn't bother me. I found the shack by accident. Want to see?"  
"Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

Scenic Route

Basement Car Park

Dana Scully's car

Dana Scully got into her car and offered it her key. Apparently it preferred a different brand key or it just couldn't swallow anything else, having gone out the previous night for pizza and beer. She tried again. It spit the key out at her. She checked her key fob, no, it was the correct key. Still nothing. What was the name of that car rental company again? The one that gave double reward points? She'd use them to go on vacation. Two weeks of bliss.

On second thought, two thousand weeks sounded better.

Why had her seat belt not been working either? Damn! Did nothing work in this clunker? Wait. What if Mulder-  
Her phone irritated her even further. It wasn't a number she recognized.  
"Hello?"  
She prepared to say' I'm busy Mulder' from habit.  
"Dr. Scully?" British accent.  
"That's right."  
"Agent Mulder has been investigating an X Files case with us in Oregon. He just phoned and asked us to direct you toward your glove compartment. Something about roses, and you owe him for solving-"  
She'd hung up and stabbed at the button to open the compartment.  
The lid flopped along with her enthusiasm. Inside was a map, empty candy wrapper, spare gun and ammo, various papers. Nothing that cracked the case . Maybe she could crack Mulder's skull open. Yes, there was that slight problem for doctors called do no harm. She decided to claim impaired judgement due to temporary insanity. What court would knowingly convict a woman stuck with Spooky Mulder for a partner? He'd probably fiddled with her car too. That would explain it. He'd tried to keep her from investigating the identity of her admirer. She'd kill him. The president would probably give her a medal out of gratitude.  
Maybe even throw in extra credit card reward points.  
There was a loud tap at her window that made her jump, and a one second flash of an FBI badge. She rolled down the window, still startled. The stern faced, muscle laden dolt had a neck the size of the steering wheel and didn't look remotely apologetic for scaring the red out of her hair but he did wear nice leather gloves. She pictured herself jamming them down his throat after snapping on the latex, then tossing the latex in after them. Just to make sure he choked. A girl couldn't be too careful with guys that annoying and that rude.

"Maam, you can't park here."  
"Are you suggesting I can't park in my own building garage? What the hell is going on here?" She reached for her own badge.  
"Where I come from in the UK, its called a kidnapping." he said helpfully.  
It was the same voice she'd heard on the phone, if she had been paying closer attention. Which she hadn't. Which he'd counted on.  
She'd reached for her pistol but he'd brought up a cylinder object, and it hissed at her like it had something against redheads. Both her eyes rolled in opposite directions, and she flipped sideways onto the passenger seat. He sprayed her through the window with what chemically smelled like beer. When he was finished, she seemed like she'd been fed on beer at her mother's breast.  
Her now cheerful assailant opened the door with the key he'd substituted for hers, and slid unfamilarily into the driver's seat on the left. He arranged her into a sitting position and fastened her seatbelt.  
"Americans believe anything. Don't worry, Dr. Scully. Sleep it off. I'll take the scenic route across the pond. You'll love it."  
He lowered the window and tossed the FBI badge out of it.  
Below the less than impressive engraving, in small lettering, it said :  
Be a FBI Agent ! Hours of fun for kids of all ages! Manufactured in China.

Come At Me Bro!  
Somewhere in an Oregon Forest

Dusk

Ben Ogawa was worried. The house looked great, the Monkey posters were hung, the orange tree with the lucky red ribbons sat on the coffee table. Anne wasn't home. Anne was always prompt. He'd teased her she'd been born premature just so she wouldn't miss her own birth. Now two hours had gone by, and no woman he'd loved for forty years had come through the door on impossibly high heels that would make foot fetish types have happy little seizures. So he called each of her friends, one after the other. Parts of his heart sizzled out like dud firecrackers with each response. They'd all basically told him the same thing.  
"Benny, you must be mistaken. Today isn't even the day our book club meets. I'm sure you just misunderstood her and she'll be fine. "  
" Nothing's fine with Anne not here, okay? If you hear from her no matter what time it is, tell her to call me right away."

He slammed the landline phone down and sat there staring at the red and gold altar in the corner, with its candles, red bulbs glowing, rows of fragrant stick incense, bowls of rice, candies and flowers. Her family's photos were arranged on it. Not a day of their marriage went by with his Anne not paying respect to her ancestors.  
He suddenly pictured himself bowing to his dead wife's picture.  
He shot up, grabbed a jacket, keys and his helmet. He'd find her. Otherwise, seppuku was looking pretty good to him. even with a crochet needle.

There was no Ben Ogawa without Anne Ogawa. It was a match manufactured in China but made in Heaven and it better damn well stay that way.  
He was halfway out of the woods on his motorbike, high beams blazing, staying on the path he knew she took. She even knew her way around a motorbike better than he did. Tears marred his vision. By the time he saw a drunken Preston waving the rifle in the air it was far too late.  
"Hey Jap! Get the hell out of my way! Stinking ugly Jap!"  
Ben desperately pulled the wheels over to avoid Preston, his temper and and his rifle, and lost control of the bike. It tumbled over a hill, and elderly Ben Ogawa tumbled in unison with it.  
Preston looked over the edge with satisfaction. Ogawa wasn't moving. Three cheers for the red, white and blue.  
"Fool Jap. Who drives a motorcycle at his age? His whore of a wife too. One less dirty Jap. Now if they'd get rid of the lazy blacks, this would be a better country-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"  
He hadn't seen it right away, now he screamed. It was terrifying, with gleaming yellow eyes, stained yellow teeth. The hair! All over it! It growled at him, and he ran.

Running wasn't a good idea. Preston ran until his enlarged belly and his enlarged legs couldn't carry him further. He dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. His heart pumped enormously in his chest until it decided it had enough of keeping a man as intellectually brain dead as Preston alive. It quit.  
He fell over like he was one of the trees that mockingly witnessed his demise. Mulder's criminal squirrel watched from a tree. The squirrel was witness to the monster walking up to the body a couple minutes after it had been checking Ogawa. Ben was out cold but still breathing, his helmet reassuringly intact.  
The monster saw the squirrel. The squirrel checked out the monster, swooped down, stopped within a few inches of the hairy competition, busily swished its tail in warning. Come at me, bro its tail signalled. This was a squirrel either completely, utterly and appropriately nuts or a squirrel with guts and determination the size of its customary tree. A squirrel equivalent of Agent Fox Mulder.  
It even liked sunflower seeds as much as he did.  
It quickly grabbed the ones the monster tossed at it.  
It was a hungry squirrel. Hunger won out over its apparent determination to singlehandedly (singlepawdedly?)save its Oregon forest from a hairy X File just like its human counterpart. Besides, all things considered, Mulder himself might have pointed out it looked more like Scully with that gorgeous scarlet fur.

"Lots more when I get back, okay? I gotta check and make sure Benny's all right. He should have just rammed that bastard head on. But you know Benny. Not a mean bone in him. Anne was a nurse, she'll know what to do. I can't just leave Benny here and I sure can't call the cops." the monster told it..

Like her kid brother Scott, she loved squirrels.


	4. Chapter 4

Memories Mislaid

Unmarked Shado Excelsor Supersonic jet

20,000 ft above London England, undetectable on radar

Doctor Dana Scully was angry. She looked around and realized now that collapsing in her car had occured hours ago. She'd come to slowly, then found herself on a jet, with her kidnapper next to her.  
"You bastard, where am I?"  
"I liked you a lot better when you were drugged."  
That earned him a audible slap across his face. He didn't even blink.  
"If I were you, I'd have something to eat. We're scheduled to land in about an hour or so. In the meantime I'm sure you have questions-"  
"I'm a federal agent, I'm FBI. Kidnapping and masquerading as an FBI agent are serious charges-"  
"Let's start with introductions, Maam. I'm Robin Ambrose, ex-Royal Marine, special ops, mercenary. You'll find that I'm immune to American law enforcement and courts. I work part time for Shado. Do you remember Shado?"  
"Why did you kidnap me?"  
"Orders from an old friend."  
"He means me." Scully turned around. She knew the craggy features, the kind blue eyes. "And you are?"  
"Alec Freeman. Rob, take her over. I want a word with the doctor in private."  
"Right. Just a suggestion, Maam. Don't slap my mate. He'll slap back."  
The husky Ambrose disappeared into the pilot's cabin.  
"Rob's not the ruffian which he appears. Now. Let me begin at the beginning. You and your partner Mulder discovered that my boss was injured in a car smash that killed the prime minister, then shortly after that my boss retires from a brilliant career in the US Air Force and goes into the fim business. So with terms like Roswell and cover up and alien invasion getting tossed about, you think he's right smack in the middle of a X File."  
"We were sure Straker was hiding something. Before we could even see him, someone stabbed my partner. I find your boss Straker high on drugs, I mistake his pager for a gun and I shoot him. Later I realized it wasn't him at all. It was a perp from an early case of Mulder's who stabbed him."  
"It wasn't. It was Straker. Only he didn't stab him. He shot him."  
"Wait, you're saying I was right all along? I was lied to! Mulder said it was-"  
"Your partner would have confessed to crucifying Christ if we wanted him to. We had our own medical personnel handling Mulder. We had set it up so that you and Mulder would buy the story. We wanted you off our backs. Only nothing worked out. The real perp who had once assaulted Mulder was long dead, he O.D'd. Straker said we didn't have time to come up with another plan. So he shot Mulder."  
"He lied to me! About everything. His feelings"  
"Ed's feelings for you were, and are genuine. We didn't know how sick he was. Ed put a bullet in your partner, yeah. It was his intention to injure Mulder not kill him. Ed's an expert sniper and marksman. He qualified in small arms back in his unit, but he is brilliant with anything that has a trigger on it. Now look, Mulder's fine. You're our problem."  
"So now you threaten me?"  
"Damn it Scully, when Ed made the decision to have our amnesia drug administered to you, none of us realized that while Mulder had the most advanced drug, some moron in our clinic put an older version of the drug in your coffee. If Ed hadn't asked for you to be looked after, we wouldn't have known. Your apartment and hospital and FBI offices were all bugged, Robin's special ops mates had you and Mulder under surveillance. You began to call out in your sleep. You'd call Ed's name. The drug failed. In some instances with the drug you were given, that happens. You've wondered why you've been sleepless, tense, upset, all symptoms indicating that memories were breaking through. Similar to how versed affects some patients after surgery."  
"So now you drag me somewhere and give me another dose so that your secrets are safe?"  
"Stop being an idiot. If that's what we wanted, it would have been done. There are complications. My friend is ill. Look, I told him he was an idiot doing what he did. I tried to get him to just tell you you'd become a part of his life that he couldn't put aside. He wouldn't listen to me. So he did that ridiculous masquerade with those awful clothes, the cap, the accent to disguise his voice, the colored lenses-"  
"You're suggesting the delivery guy was him? That's nonsense. "  
"How do you think I know about it, you fool? I was waiting for him a block away. Afterwards he tortured himself over it."  
"No. You admitted you all had me under surveillance. That's how you know."  
"You're just as impossible as Ed. I was there. He wouldn't just tell you he loved you,no, he went over the computer profiles on you and Mulder, don't you see? He claimed it was a security issue, and yes, Mulder thinking anyone in government, or military isn't to be trusted. He thought he had proof at last, he would have exposed Shado. His obsession genuinely threatened Shado, and the secret we've been maintaining for years. Mulder doesn't care that it would be a living hell if everyone knew what was out there. He just needed to be right."  
"Then why not just drug him?"  
"And risk you dropping some small detail that would devastate us all? No. Now, its different. I've stepped into Straker's position. I set up your surveillance at Ed's request and so did Robin. To keep you safe. Because things have changed. You know, don't you Scully? You realize who has been sending you the white roses. "  
"Oh my God, Straker. It all adds up. But I don't understand. He feels I was a risk to the organization like Mulder is. Why threaten his position by sending me flowers?"  
"The initial computer reports on you indicated you wouldn't keep anything from Mulder. But the latest reports said you were to be trusted. You were the one with the steady head. You could be given an Aegis security ranking, it even suggested you'd make a good candidate for Shado. Yet Ed's been ill. He didn't recover from that damn drug. That drug was reverse engineered from a drug we took from the aliens."  
"Mulder always felt that that kind of thing was happening. So it's common in your damn organization? How could you not see what it did to Ed? He was raving like a lunatic."  
"We're at war. We use everything we've got in our arsenal. It isn't a matter of morality. It's a matter of winning. Ed was badly injured in a UFO incident, and ordinary drugs weren't stopping his pain. His job is his entire world. At least it was. He was coming apart, because of the drug, but more than that, you. He bought you a bouquet of white roses, and he gave in to his sexual attraction to you. Look, I've known Ed for many years. One night stands aren't his thing. He knew he'd never see you again. He tried to find a way for you to draw away, he accused you of looking for someone like your father. He'd tell me about it on the phone when you were asleep. Scully, no. Dana, he loves you. He brought you those flowers in that ridiculous outfit just to see you a final time."  
"Alec! Wind it up, we land eta 15 minutes," Robin yelled from the pilot's cabin.  
"Right!"  
"He sent them more than once."  
"No, actually I did. He wasn't able to. He asked me if I'd do it for him, and of course, I'd bloody well do anything he wanted. He was so worried about the first time. Worried about putting you in danger, claimed he'd been an amateur by tossing away the clipboard, buying the clothing and everything else himself. I don't care what kind of alien drug he was being tormented by, I reminded him he wasn't the choice to lead Shado for nothing. He smiled in that way he has. He asked me if I would continue. He chose the flowers and ribbon and box. It was a simple thing to put each box together on tbe studio lot. We already make just about everything in the prop department. It was a little more trickier to make sure the end result didn't give anything away. Just to guarantee it, we used our moles in the FBI labs."  
"Is there nothing safe from your damned organization? There's something I don't understand. The boxes stopped coming. Then the one with the card saying Dana I need you. Did you write it too?"  
"I told you Ed is ill. The boxes stopped because he-you'll see. He's in hospital, a very advanced clinic with an all Shado staff. He asked me to go to his house, he'd been working on a box for you, and I did. He kept the petals, Dana. He kept the white petals which was all that remained of the first bouquet he bought you. He admitted he couldn't bear to throw them away. "  
"Alec, there's something you aren't telling me. I have the right to know."  
"Ed thinks you're better off with Mulder. He thinks you have feelings for Mulder."  
"How could I not have feelings for Mulder? You're clearly close to Straker, you understand a partnership. Mulder means a lot to me."  
"But?"  
"That's it."  
"Christ, you're as stupid as Ed is. Kidnapping you wasn't totally an act so that security would be preserved. I went to Ed's house, and in his trash bin found that card. I need you Dana. He had finally admitted it, maybe he had decided to tell you after all, let you choose between him and your partner. But he tossed it away like he's tossed his only chance to have a semi normal life, and a love. You, Dana. You need to choose. Or I won't have any choice about shutting up your memories of Ed forever."  
"This isn't right. Let me see him! Forcing me to do this, maybe a gun to the back of my head would be more merciful."  
"Dana, you need to choose. For his sake. For his-"  
"Damn you Alec! For his life? Isn't that what you're not saying?"  
"Put your harness on. We're about to land."  
"Tell me!"  
"He doesn't know you're coming. He'll kill me when he finds out. Yes, he was too ill to continue the boxes. Not because of the drug. You'll find out."  
"What do I have to do to get the truth out of you?" she yelled.  
"Dr. Scully, if you blow this, if my bringing you here because I know he needs you turns out to be a mistake, then you'll forgive me for feeling like I should be putting a bullet into the back of your skull. Robin said I slap women back. No, he just has a dark sense of humor. But I have killed women when it was necessary before. Just remember that."  
"So you come for me just to threaten me, is that what you're saying?"  
"What I'm saying is don't hurt my friend."  
Alec turned, and his face was as hard as the metal buckle of his seatbelt.

Oh my God, Mulder, why was I so stupid? But they're right. You would expose them, thinking they were no different than any other black ops, infiltrating even Quantico, using alien drugs, just a part of your X files. How would you advise me now? What am I supposed to say to Ed? Dana I need you. How many times have I wished that Mulder would lay it on the line like that, and give up the fight. He's been there for me-no, not like I'd hoped. Always the logical Scully, the one I can count on. Who can I count on now? Who?

Oh my God how can you love a man who chases the memory of his sister? How can you love a man who looks for a truth he may never find? No Dana, you're the one who isn't being truthful. The real question is how can you love a man whom you can barely remember? How can you long for his touch?

Straker. I can't even think of his name without my heart falling apart. Hurt your friend? Not in this lifetime, Alec. I remember packing after our argument just to come out and see him on the floor, crumpled like those white petals he kept to remember me. The relief I felt when those blue eyes opened, his hands sweeping over me, to an end we no longer could fight. His hair, that beautifully groomed cap of hair sticking out everywhere, and still attempting to act like we hadn't had sex. His eyes, his voice. Gone.

I'm afraid to see him, but I'm more afraid not to. I saw the darkness in Alec's eyes. I know something is horribly wrong, Alec wouldn't risk his friendship with Straker like this if something weren't terribly wrong. Am I going to lose you again, Ed?

White petals, faded, gone, like lost love. Crumpled like dead hope. You would have let me stay with Mulder. Your friend Alec knows it. You would have. What about Mulder? Would Mulder let me go with Ed?

No.

Oh my God.

Barely remember him? Really? How could anyone forget Edward Straker?

Scully clutched her cross as the jet came to a stop.

Help me, God. I have to do the right thing before time runs out. I need to do the right thing.

For Mulder, for Ed, but most of all, for me.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Real Monsters

Oregon woods

exact location unknown

"Wait Fox, no!"  
"Get back!" Agent Fox Mulder raised his pistol as the monster came up snarling, dragging an unconscious form behind it.  
"No, that's just my sister!"

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore. Shoot me, " the monster pleaded.  
"Did you say that is your sister? Okay, start explaining."  
"This shack. Its where we played. Back when Mom wasn't so stupid. Back when she still loved us. Then Dad died and Cheryl got sick. Mom wasn't the same anymore. She'd drink and beat us."  
"Let me guess. Your sister dressed up as a monster?"  
The monster ignored Mulder's confusion.  
"Ben went over the ridge on his bike, so I brought him back here.. Go get Anne, Scott. I think he's ok, but I'm scared."  
" Wake up Ben. It's ok, no lie still. It's Special Agent Mulder. Remember me?"  
"Of course, stop yelling at me. No wait. My wife is missing, that's why I took the bike. I swerved to avoid Preston, and that's-ANNE!"  
A pretty Asian lady had come running out and she embraced Ben Ogawa.  
"I know you from the photos in Mr. Ogawa's house. " Mulder said.  
"Benja, I told you to stay far away from Preston. He's always been bad news. Anne Ogawa said, using her nickname for her husband. "So you were feeding our monster extra monster snacks. I should have known." Ben said with a sheepish grin. "Cheryl, don't you be worried. Fox is a decent guy. You didn't commit any crime. Nor are you a monster. The real monsters are the creepy kids that mocked you at school, and your alcoholic mother and that sick jerk Preston."  
"Did everyone around here know the monster wasn't a monster?" Mulder grinned.  
"But I am a monster. Look at me." Cheryl removed her mask to reveal a hirsute face.  
" The other kids tormented me. Ben and Anne would hide us in their house when Mom got drunk. They've always been great to Scott and me."  
"She thinks she's a monster, but what it is is just hypertrichosis. Excess body hair. They bullied her so badly that she needed to get back at them somehow. So between the four of us, we came up with a monster costume."  
"They were scared of me finally. Really scared." Cheryl confessed. "Are we in trouble?"  
"Trouble for what? I came here looking for a monster. Instead I find a monster costume. I will tell you who might be in trouble. Your mother. Scott said she's beaten you."  
"There was always something wrong about her." Cheryl shrugged. "Dad loved her, and then he died real unexpectedly, and she spent Dad's money and drank."  
"Fox, didn't you say you investigated the paranormal?" Ben asked, as Anne cleaned off his bruises.  
"That's right. Why?"  
"Because I never was into conspiracies, not my thing, but the way their Dad died so unexpectedly, you'd suspect murder. Might be worth looking into." Ben said.  
"I think I follow you, Ben. If there was some evidence, hard evidence that their mother killed their father, these kids would be orphaned. You and your wife there might be allowed to foster them."  
"For reals?" Scott asked hopefully.  
"I'll call my partner and have her join us. She's a medical doctor. We can go pay your mother a visit, and keep our eyes peeled. Even if murder doesn't enter the picture, child abuse due to alcoholism is a serious charge." Mulder assured them "This is terrific!" Scott said.  
Someone cleared their throat.  
"You're in charge now?" the woman said. It was Preston's wife.  
"Wait, you can actually talk?" Ben said in disbelief.  
"My husband's dead. Heart attack by the look of things. Fool went out shooting at critters. Poor things never did him any harm. Just scared them though, the fat freak never could shoo a gun properly in his life. War movies was the closest he ever got to enlisting."  
"I knew it!" Scott said.  
"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Preston." Mulder said.  
"I'm sure as hell not. I hated the fat son of a bitch. "  
"You never said a word." Ben said, puzzled.  
"I was dumb. He was rich. Simple as that. I caught another woman in bed with him. Their mother. I never spoke another word to him. And you better believe she killed him. All she did was read murder mysteries. Not long after that she bought some weed killer. She didn't even have a lawn. Cops around here are stupider than rocks. They bought the poor grieving widow bullshit. Look, Mr. Ogawa, I never talked to you because I was afraid of what my husband would do to you. I didn't mean to offend."  
"Well, this has to be one of the more stranger X files I've investigated." Mulder grinned. Twist after twist. Give me a second to call my partner."  
Mulder dialed the number. There was nothing, not even voicemail.  
"Now what did Wonder Woman get herself into?" he wondered aloud.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The Horror Of Room 19

Shado Installation

Southern England

Exact Location Classified

Scully walked down the corridor freely, her high heels clicking on the shiny linoleum, like the tick of a clock measuring her proximity to doom. At the end of the corridor was her destination. He would be there. The man that had been taken away from her.  
You were kidnapped , Scully. Let's not forget that detail. Oh God, I don't want to do this. At the same time I'd kill the bastard that tried to stop me from seeing him again. Ed. Ed Straker. The fear inspiring Straker. The same Straker that would motivate his friend Alec to threaten my life if I dared to hurt him. Hurt him? My life went crazy after that innocent cup of coffee which he ordered drugged because he feared my partner would expose the truth he had finally found. What will he do now, how will he react? He sent those roses, was that the act of a man that didn't care? I could walk away. They trust me to just forget this place. Ed's job would be safe. I should go. I should run! Her phone rang, startling her.  
"Scully, its me. I've been trying to get through to you. I'm in a taxi headed for the airport. Scully?"  
"Yes, Mulder I'm listening. Did you find your monster?" She had found a corner, sat on a black leather bench in an alcove. Alec Freeman had been watching her progress from a distance, now he drew closer, scowling at the interruption.  
"Scully, not only that, but I solved a murder, helped two kids on the road of getting decent parents, and celebrated the Chinese New Year with an elderly Asian couple. Get this, they both ride motorbikes, and the wife is hot, wears six inch high heels. Oh, did I mention the squirrel that refused to cooperate with an FBI agent?"  
"Mulder, are you on mushrooms again?"  
"I'll explain when I get home. Did you find your mysterious admirer?"  
"I'm about to talk to him. Mulder, if I walked away from everything to be with him, if that was what I really wanted, what would you do?"  
"I'd kick his ass and prove to you that he's leading you by the nose with all this romantic roses crap. Who is he?"  
"Straker. The film studio executive we investigated earlier this year. We were wrong, Mulder. We were so sure he was tied to Roswell, remember?"  
"He admitted his father was assigned to Roswell, or at least a guy named Straker was. He was a colonel in military intelligence. Remember that newspaper article. Miracle escape for U S Colonel. He came out of a crash that killed a cabinet minister. Why would he even be in that car? Then boom, he's making movies. It doesn't add up."  
"We went over this. He told us that Roswell Straker was his father, a career Army officer, but that he never discussed anything with him. He was USAF, and after that accident, he decided he wanted a new direction to go in. He doesn't believe in flying saucers, he has two doctorates, he's a scientist not a tin foil hat wearer or a believer in conspiracies. Mulder, you're just going in circles."  
"Then why try to be involved with you? Why hide it so long."  
"We got along, he's known to be divorced, so he's lonely, he found himself attracted to me, that's all. Simple."  
"Scully, I'm telling you. A guy with his background is never simple. Something's fishy here.  
"Mulder, I'm going to talk to him further. I'll keep my eyes open and tell you anything I find out."  
"Scully, where are you-"  
She'd hung up.  
"Do you understand now why Mulder is trouble?"  
It was Alec Freeman.  
"I can handle him."  
"He's a skilled profiler. He'll know if you lie to him."  
"So what are you suggesting?"  
"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just reminding you that keeping Shado secret is critical. Mulder would blow it open at the first opportunity he had. We're the good guys. He wouldn't see it that way."  
"Colonel Freeman, you need to trust me. I'll make it work. Even if I don't quite appreciate your power and use of authority, particularily where Ed was concerned. He was my patient for a little while. He shot Mulder, yes, but my memory of Ed's decency tells me he made sure it wasn't fatal, like you said. I'm not ready to label Ed as a goverment martinet just yet. "  
"Ed can be unforgiving in some ways, but he isn't a tyrant. Let me be perfectly honest with you. I know Ed is drawn to you. In many ways the both of you are alike. Brilliant in your fields. I had you kidnapped because Ed wouldn't listen to reason, and because you treated him. That index card he threw away told me all I needed to hear. He does need you. He's endured situations that would have felled a lesser man. Ed's tough but he's all too human. He's been suffering even before this."  
"How? Damn it I know you're keeping something from me. You and this organization. Maybe Mulder is right. "  
"If that was your honest belief, I'd never have allowed you to come anywhere near Commander Straker, but I think you love him. I think a lot of things. That cross around your neck isn't for show, I hope. Because he's going to need another miracle escape. He survived that Rolls crash, and other consequences but I fear his luck ran out. I brought you here to save him. Tell Ed I'll come by to see him later."  
"Alec!"  
She could see arguing with him was useless. She rose to her feet to face whatever horror that lie in wait for her in room 19.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Forced to Forget

Room 19 Shado installation, security sector

exact location classified

Scully walked to the door, stopped, took a deep breath. She went in. Edward Straker sat in a hospital bed, legs folded underneath him, one hand holding a large book, the other resting on his chest. His head was against a pillow, and his skin was so devoid of color she found it difficult to see the difference between the cotton, and his own flesh. He wore a cream jumpsuit, and a powder blue turtleneck , the color of it was diminished by the intensity of his own blue eyes. His usually perfectly groomed hair had grown to chin length so platinum strands curled past his ears. He was hopelessly thin. His flawlessly shaped mouth was set in the strict line she was so familiar with. He set down the book, and looked off in the distance at something only he could see.  
Scully just froze when she saw the box on the wheeled table. The scent from the box told her what it contained.  
He'd gotten up in one liquid gesture, moving with a dancer's grace. He shoved the book under his bed. He then crossed to a sink, and poured himself a mug of water.

"Is that box for me? Do you think you could give it to me directly, and then oh I don't know, tell me why you send them?"  
The mug fell, shattered. The shattered remains mirrored the expression on his face.  
"God. Da-na. Of course. Alec Freeman talked you into coming here, didn't he? He's forcing you to be a part of this. "  
"If you keep speaking in riddles, I swear to God I'll put a bullet in your head!"  
"Is that a habit of yours, shooting men who love you? "  
"What the hell did you just-mrpffhhhh"  
He'd gone to her, pulled her powerfully into his arms.  
"Forgive me. I won't offer you any excuses. I will tell you this. My loving you is no riddle. You're free to respond anyway you want. Dana, love has no basis in science. I prided myself on my self control, and it all went to hell. You know what's funny? I feel more in control, I feel whole. Just give me a few minutes to hold you. To remember what this feels like. To know that I'm touching a part of my soul."  
"Stop it!" She pulled away from him.

There was desolation in his eyes, but his expression turned stern.

"Dana, were you brought here against your will?"  
"Your friend Freeman had me kidnapped by that goon Ambrose. Freeman said you were suffering. He said you'd run tests that showed you could trust me, but not Mulder. Is that why you had my coffee drugged, Ed? Was it so easy to get rid of a woman you'd used and then thrown away because it threatened your damn organization? "  
"You don't know, do you? You don't know what it's like to be in the same room with you. Easy? Easy, you think it was easy? Why do you think I came, Dana? That was me with those stupid clothes! Look, damn you! "  
He walked to the closet, pulled out the clothes she'd seen him in.  
"I couldn't bear it. I'd gone through the motions, but I wanted to see you one more time. To try and understand what you'd done to me!"  
"Alec told me it was you. What right do you have to claim I'd ever done anything to you? Do you even know what it's like for me to see you? The man I was forced to forget. The only man I-"  
"You have feelings for Mulder. I saw it the day you were drugged. I didn't need to look at the reports. I thought he wasn't right for you. He's never recovered from what happened to his sister. The porn, the affairs, the humor, behind all that is a struggle, Dana. He does care for you. I didn't want to get in the way of your happiness."  
"You bastard! Still making decisions for the little woman. Did it occur to you to ask me what I wanted?"  
"You would have stayed with Mulder." Ed said sadly.  
"Oh so you're a mind reader now?"  
"Your career is important to you, but Mulder always has needed you. He draws strength from you. If I had made you choose it would have hurt you more. I wind up damaging you again. Did Alec tell you that once that batch of the amnesia drug fails, it makes it impossible for the subject to ever be given the more powerful drug again? Dana, I will see to it that you get back to Mulder. First, you need to trust me. If you ever cared for me, you have to trust me-"  
"Trust you? Don't make me laugh. If I ever cared for you? Do you have any idea how crazy you make me, you rotten bastard?"  
"Dana, would you marry a dead man?"  
"What? That's it. You're insane. You're oohmm-"  
He'd taken her and kissed her again. She began to respond. He moved away, held her, hands gently on her face, tilted her head so that he could easily look into her eyes.  
"No matter what happens, no matter what you may think of me, or what's driven me all these years, just know this, Dana Scully. You're a precious human being in a less than precious world. I love you with such significance that it scares me. I'm assuming you know that Shado has your psychological profile, and that initially I believed that your tie to Mulder was so tight, you'd tell him if we offered you a position with Shado. He thinks we are the monster. We aren't. What I want you to hear is that I too am bound by computer reports and doctors and psychological profiling. I volunteered for a test and it proved I was pretty much wired to be emotionally attached to you. It was no drug in my system. It was just you and I. If you decide to go away, if Mulder is in your heart, I will let you go. I just never will be whole without you. I just will hate that crazy man for the rest of his life for having you yet taking you for granted. "  
"Do you have any idea how utterly stupid you are? You'd just let me go?"  
"Dana, listen. You have to do what I say. Do exactly what I say. Our lives, and other lives depend upon it." He let her go.  
"Fine," Dana sighed. "Tell me whatever other unbelievably irrational story that's rattling around in your head. I'm used to the crazy, I have Fox Mulder as a partner."  
"Dana, he's a good man. He just wasn't ready for what life threw at him."  
"Oh and I suppose the great Commander Straker was? Running around full of a crazy drug? Sending flowers to a woman he forced to forget him? Right. Nothing wrong with that."  
He smiled for the first time, and she felt her heart go supersonic.  
"Don't even play that card, you creep."  
"Card? What now?"he stammered, genuinely perplexed.  
"You smiled at me!"  
He chucked softly, took her hand.  
"Dana, you can't stop me smiling at you no matter how hard you might try. Your face is like those white roses. Sensual, pure and elegant."  
"Take your adjectives and stick them where the sun doesn't shine, Ed. And for God's sake, put some weight on! You'd blow away in a faint breeze. What idiot is your doctor? How can they allow-"  
"Dana, will you please stop insulting me and listen to me?"  
"If you loved me so much, then why did you stop? Why did you have to be real? Why couldn't it just go on so I could dream about a mysterious admirer who loved me? No, its just a damn X file! No, I'm just being a foolish woman who still remembers a little girl who would have been thrilled by all this? Once upon a time, remember? But there's no place in the life of Dr. Dana Scully for fairy tales. You know what drives me the most crazy about you, you bastard?"  
"I've braced myself. Go ahead. Wound me fatally. Again, I should add. I seem to recall you shot me once."  
"Wipe that grin off your face, or I'll wipe it off with a scapel, Edward Straker! You shot my partner, I seem to recall that! I was right the first time."  
"I had no sense. I should have shot him in the head, now that I think about it. But do go on."  
"You LOOK like a handsome prince, and let go of my hand. You stopped sending me flowers, and Mulder made fun of it. Why, Ed? Why did you stop? You wrote on the card I need you Dana."  
"So Alec put that in the last box. Yes, I wrote that. I meant it. I do need you and you need me. You ask me why it stopped. I'll show you." He squeezed her hand briefly, stepped away and then without expression he peeled off the top half of the jumpsuit, let it fall to his ankles. He removed the turtleneck, took off his white cotton undershirt.  
She gasped, used the wall to brace herself.  
Across his chest from his left rib area to his right shoulder was one thick scar, obviously made with a blade of some kind. He'd been autopsied.  
Alive.  
"I'm sorry. You had the right to know." He slowly put his clothes back on, looking like he might faint. His breathing came in little gasps of air.  
"How can you, how could you-"  
"Live, Dana? Live after they cut me open? The doctors don't know. I have a theory, but no way to prove it. So I just need to survive. Now you have to help me make everything right again."  
"Ed, who-"  
"I was taken into a UFO. They forced me down, cut me open. They didn't-oh Christ,Dana. They took my vital organs. My heart. I wish I was dead. I should be dead. Dana, could you love a dead ma-"  
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Ed, don't. Don't think about it. Ed!"  
He had sunk to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. She hurried to his side.  
"I'm going to call for a tranqui-"  
"No! Oxygen, and syringe-in table drawer. Garden variety -anxiety attack -from reliving the trauma of- Hurry -you and I don't have much time. We have to stop-I can't breathe-Dana-uhh"  
She'd plunged the needle into his arm, then she helped him onto the bed, put the nasal canula in place, turned on the oxygen. She stroked his hair. His breathing quieted.  
"You need a haircut, Commander." she told him tearfully. He was beginning to respond to the drug.  
"Still the insults, Doctor? I happen to agree. They-well they wouldn't allow me scissors at first. I was a suicide risk after what happened. Think you could cut my hair? I can't do anything about what a freak they turned me into. A man without a heart. Some of my own men and women were sure that's what I was, and now I am exactly that. I can at least look decent. We don't have a lot of time. Just do it quickly. There's a package wrapped in plastic in the toilet tank, it has my scissors from home, compliments of my Miss Ealand . Thank God, they haven't found it yet. Please, Dana. No more questions. We have so little time to save the world from the fucking aliens who turned me into one of them."  
"You keep saying we're running out of time. What do you think is going to happen? Just tell me that, Ed."  
"Alec Freeman has been my friend for almost fourteen years." Ed said solemnly.  
"Yes, I know the two of-"  
"He intends to kill me. That's what this is all about, Dana. He brought you here to allow me to have some happy moments, a hope that I'd have intimacy with the woman I love, before he kills me. " Ed paused, eyes filled with fear, eyes full of terror. "Get the package will you?"  
Reluctantly, she did as he said.  
"All right, here, but you must be wrong. Freeman is your best friend-"  
"Dana, I know. He's allowed us to be with one another. Then he'll shoot me dead. Dana, this room is no ordinary room. It's a cell. It's my tomb. Dana,cut my hair. It's the height of foolishness, but I have my pride. If I can't stop him, I want to die looking like a Colonel again, damn my vanity, but that's the way it is. I've been locked up here. For my safety, he claimed. He let Miss Ealand visit me, he knew she'd never accept what was going on unless she was free to see me. So thank God, she became my last opportunity to get out of here alive before you walked through the door. Now you know the horror of room 19. Now we both are in danger." he fell into silence.  
His hair dropped bit by bit onto the floor. He sat erect, every inch the Colonel, determined to win the war that now she'd been forced into.  
She couldn't help but feel she was preparing him for his burial.  
"Well, Doctor, do you approve?"  
"You look like you again. You still need to eat. Wait, how the hell are-are you even eating?"  
"Yeah if you can call a semi-liquid diet eating. Got a comb?"  
"Why do I always fall for types like you?"  
"Prince not so charmings?" He'd accepted the comb from her handbag, whipped away at his hair ackwardly. He was shaking badly and she feigned not noticing it. She sighed melodramatically and yanked the comb out of his pale hand.  
"Heroes, you comedian. First Mulder, now you." She began to comb his hair into place.  
"Heroes have to have fair, helpless maidens to rescue. You don't fit the bill."  
"Oh this again? I'm not fair?"  
"You're not helpless. And I'm no hero. I'm terrified, Dana. You've always helped me to be whole. You've always helped me to be human. I'll never be human again. Look at me, tell me what you see."  
"I see the man I love. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself, and tell me what you're planning."  
"Did you just say-" he smiled, eyes glowing, mouth set in a suggestion of a smile.  
"Ed, get on with it!"

God. He's hot when he smiles, oh hell, that man could blink and be hot. Jesus Christ, I've turned into Mulder. I might as well suscribe to big bosoms weekly. A man with no organs. Living and breathing. Mulder would drool over this big of an X file. If Alec harms one hair on Ed's head, I swear I'll cut off his balls and make Freeman eat them raw. But I'm a scientist. Ed's hot. That truth is out there, Mulder. Poor Mulder. Forget Mulder, for pity's sake. Think about yourself for once. I need Straker, and I want Straker, and I love Straker, and he's an alien, and Mulder would have a stroke at hearing me say that, and I'm absolutely crazy. Crazy about a man I was forced to forget. So be it.

"Ed! You keep talking about time running out-"

" Sorry. Every time I look at you anew you get more beautiful. There's no explanation in rational science for that. What does your partner say? Right. Redheads are hot. You're hot . " Ed chuckled. "Yes, yes. Here's what's going to happen, and here's what I need you to do-"  
As time went on, and Ed described what he planned, Dana Scully grabbed her cross, and held it tightly.  
"Any questions?" he asked.  
"I need you to do something for me. No excuses, no protests. Just do it."  
"I trust you." he replied simply. "What is it you want me to do?"  
Without saying a word, she took her necklace off her neck and put it around his.  
"Ed, you're so damn thin. I couldn't do this otherwise. No. I don't know how you feel about faith, but we need a miracle, you need a miracle, and I want you to wear my cross."  
"Dana, at one time I wanted to be a priest. I've never mentioned that, not even to Alec. He already has plenty to tease me about. When they pulled me aboard that UFO, I kicked and I screamed and I even bit. I was reduced to an animal. But before they cut me, in my only peaceful moment aboard that UFO , I prayed for God to take my soul. I don't believe in organized religion, I'm not sure as a scientist that I can understand God, but I've always known the power of faith. Maybe I'm here now for you. Maybe it wasn't His will that you forget me. Maybe you're destined to be at my side. Maybe we can convince Mulder together that I'm not the enemy. We have to have faith, and bloody mindedness. There's no going back for us. Faith." he smiled solemnly. "Have some of that patented, kick ass Scully faith."  
"Ed, oh my God. What are we going to do?" Dana sobbed. He wiped her tears away and looked at her sternly.  
"My darling, my sweet beloved Dana, I'll tell you what we"re going to do, we're going to win."  
God. Even now, the heart they took from him is open to You. Let him be right. Let us-let me win.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Betrayal

Shado Installation

Room 19

Exact location classified

"Are you ready?"  
"You must be joking."  
He grinned at her.  
"Yeah, I can appreciate that Dana, I'm not either. Whatever I grew as a replacement stomach is in spasms. You'd think they would have taken my adrenalin, but right now it's all I have to keep me going."  
"There's something I don't understand, Ed."  
"You mean something other than my not having all my human organs and still stringing sentences together? I think it's because my bite was worse than my bark. The aliens take organs to extend their lives. We've been fighting the devils for fourteen years now. In that time they've developed new techniques, and I think the one I bit was full of some alien drug I can't begin to understand, let alone guess at. It infected me, and it infected me fast. So when-well, you know. It changed me. Warped my biology, my tissue, my brain, my nervous system. I survived because of it. That's my theory. Alec thinks I'm a walking time bomb. He's looking in the wrong place for the trigger. One of our best pilots, Peter Carlin, shot the UFO out of the sky on Alec's orders. He hoped I'd be alive, somehow survive the crash. He disobeyed standard Shado protocol in trying to save me. The doctors were standing by, but they thought they'd just be trying to save my life. They didn't bargain on finding a guy who'd been ripped open for the convienience of those bastards. An human organ buffet table. I'd bled out, hemorrhaged, but I was somehow still breathing. They closed my wounds, shot me full of tranquilizers. I was in a fugue state for a while, then I tried to kill anyone that came near me, still thinking I was on the UFO, fighting for my life. Later I finally recognized Alec, which is how I survived. He's got a responsibility, Dana. He can't take the chance that I will go crazy and attack operatives, or lure them into a trap. He's doing his duty, but he's not looking in the right place. Now what was it you wanted to ask me? Make it fast."  
"Your odd hair growth, how long have you been here?"  
"Yes, yes. Four months or so. All my cells seem to be accelerating at a high speed from whatever was in that alien I bit. My hair roots included. My facial hair too. The doctors had me shaved at my request. I didn't even realize how long my hair had gotten under the surgical cap they'd put on me. I was in quarantine for a long time. Damn small cubicle with no room to even think in. When Alec saw it, and saw how it was worsening my latent claustrophobia, he set up quarantine in this room. Finally they took all the equipment away, and just monitored me on medical telemetry. They measured my brain waves, I didn't have much else for them to study. I don't seem to have much blood. Dana, I don't-"  
"If you dare say you don't have much to offer me, I'll cut out your brain with these scissors."  
"Ever consider anger management? " Ed grinned. "How did you know what I was thinking?"  
"I know you. I'm used to all the bullshit you come up with to keep yourself isolated. "  
"Call for Alec. Tell him to bring Robin. Can you handle that, Dr. Know-it-all? Ow!"  
She'd slapped his hand and he pulled it away.  
"Nothing wrong with your reflexes." she chuckled.  
He rolled his eyes, pointed to the phone.  
"Does anything show? You look fine."  
"I'd feel better if my pistol had real bullets in it. " she grumbled.  
"Yeah I figured the only reason they allowed you to keep your gun was because they put blanks in it. Am I okay?"  
"Yes." she said, checking him over.  
"Take a look in that box of roses, Doctor." he sounded flippant to her, with a lilt in his voice that usually meant he was enjoying himself.  
"More index cards?" she teased him back.  
"Maybe it's a note from my mother. Be sure to bring Edward home before it gets dark." he chuckled.  
"Oh be quiet. Oh my God."  
" Put that in your holster. Unless God manufactured Smith and Wesson semiautomatics, He has nothing to do with it. That happens to be Alec's gun, loaded. Miss Ealand transferred to Shado from MI6 after her husband in the double O section died and I quickly made her my secretary."  
Scully crossed her arms and made a face. He chuckled.  
" Sorry, my executive assistant. She went to Alec's locker in Shado this morning without him knowing, and left him a dummy gun. I hid the real one in that box. Alec doesn't know I know he plans to kill me. He's too much of a decent guy to have them put arsenic in my jello. She also got a Glock out of the weapons room here. Hid it in a book she had brought to me. She told the guy in charge that she'd been getting things from my house, like the book, and was my watch in storage? Well, no, I lost it in the struggle with the alien. It blew up along with everything else. Miss Ealand did a few more things for me. I owe her, but still wish she'd smuggled in a steak for me to try and eat. Hospital food is the same everywhere. Especially jello. The stuffing in my pillow would taste more delectable."  
"When we get out of here, I'm going to make you the best pizza you ever tasted."  
"Is that a loving promise or a threat? I don't remember your cooking that well."  
"You bastard." she grinned, and picked up the phone.

"That's right. Any flight out of Dulles International to Heathrow Airport. I'm a Federal Agent, Fox Mulder. Dump someone if you have to, its an emergency. Yes. Yeah, that's right. Badge number JTT 047101111. FBI number 2219-526. Make it snappy. I have to stop a wedding. You heard me. My little sister fell for a guy at a film studio. She's underage and immature. Mom and Dad want her back home. Eight thirty? Wait, wait. British Airlines. Got it. Thanks."

Hang in there, Wonder Woman. Super Spooky to the rescue, Mulder thought. He put away his phone, pen and notebook and settled back for the cab ride to the airport.

"Are they coming?"  
"Yes. "  
"Dana, after we survive this, what stone would you like in your engagement ring?"  
"Now? You're asking me this now? You're proposing to me now?" she sputtered, exasperated.

You're right. That was inappropriate of me. I should have known an emerald would compliment your hair. Besides, I wouldn't leave such an important decision to a little woman. Now iron my shirt and make me dinner." Ed said playfully.  
"I am going to so finish what the aliens started, Straker." Scully was trying hard not to laugh at his attempt to provoke her.  
"You really need an anger management class, you know that?"

"I hear them coming. Shut up."

"Dana. Thank you. For everything."  
"Shut up."  
"That's shut up, Sir."  
"I don't work for you, Ed. Have you forgotten that?"  
"I outrank your Dad now, have you forgotten that? Besides, you're right. You don't work for me. Yet."  
She glared at him as the door opened.

"Everything okay?" Alec asked.  
"Alec, do you think I'd call you if it was? I'm hearing voices."  
"Ed, after all you went through, you know what the psychiatrists said to expect."  
"You're telling me you agree with Jackson? What happened to you calling him a slimy bastard? What else don't I know, Alec, since now you're his private PR person?"  
"Ed, don't get yourself worked up. Alec, I want to see the Commander's chart. He told me everything. I want to look at his x rays and ct scans. There may be something your doctors missed." Dana explained.  
"No, Dana. Don't. There's no use. Just let me die in peace. Why didn't you just destroy the UFO in space? Have one of the Interceptors take it out. No. Did you really want me to live like this? Do you call this living?"  
"Ed, I-"  
"If you knew what this was like, being a monster, being helpless, wondering if the aliens were pulling my strings-my God, Alec. I can't live like this!"  
"Ed, depression is to be expected in your condition. For heaven's sake Mr. Freeman, can't your doctors do anything for him?" Dana pleaded. "He didn't ask for what happened to him!"  
"Alec, mate, I need a private word with you." Robin Ambrose said.  
"No. No need, Rob. I'm Commander now. I shouldn't have tried to change his fate. He knows Shado regulations. He wrote them, after all. Ed, do you understand what has to happen?" Alec took the pistol out of his hip holster.  
"Make it fast, Alec. Clean shot through my chest. This time no attempts to save me."  
"Ed, no! You can't let him do this. You can't."  
"I had Dana cut my hair, I wanted to look dignified again. Alec, get her home safe to Mulder, then drug them both. Ambrose, hold her."  
"No, no!" Dana screamed, but Ambrose held her tightly.  
"My darling, I'm sorry. Alec, please look after her. Send her white roses every month in my memory, will you?"  
"Ed-"  
"Just do it. That's an order, my last one. Farewell, Alec." Ed closed his eyes.  
"Christ. I can't. I just can't." Alec exclaimed.  
"You're in command now, mate. Don't go soft on us. Duty and all that." Ambrose grinned. "He isn't one of us anymore. If you can't do it, I will."  
"God forgive me." Alec Freeman whispered. "I'm his friend, if anyone frees him, it'll be me."  
He pulled the trigger.  
Commander Ed Straker looked confused and in pain for a moment, then put a hand to his chest. It came away bloody. He toppled over on his side, twitched, and then gasped once and lay still.  
Dana let out a long strangled cry, and fell to her knees beside him. She shook his body.  
" You never gave him a chance, Freeman! Ed, get up, please get up. We had plans, remember? How could God allow this to happen? How?"  
"Dr. Scully, it's what Ed wanted. He would have preferred to die before being used by the aliens to destroy his life's work. He was Shado. Now I have to try and be as half as good as he was and carry out his work. If there was any other way-" Alec was close to breaking down.  
"Bloody hell, I've seen enough drama for a lifetime. Scully, if you want to know why your God did it, then why don't you ask Him yourself?" Rob sneered. He pulled out his pistol and shot Scully in the chest. The bullet's impact knocked her backwards, she moaned once then was silent.  
"What the hell have you done?" Alec demanded, furious.  
"You think she would walk out of here and not go straight to Mulder and her FBI? You aren't top material, mate."  
"That wasn't your decision to make, you fucking moron!"  
"Oh come on. You mean you don't believe in life everlasting, you don't think they'll still be screwing in paradise? Or does your dead American even have a prick left?"  
Alec punched Robin Ambrose.  
"That wasn't very nice. Did it make you feel better?"  
"Get the hell out of here, Rob. You make me sick. I just killed my best friend. I'm not in the mood for your dark jokes."  
"Not bright, are you, Freeman? Did you ever ask yourself how they knew Straker's coordinates?" Ambrose put his gun away.  
"What the hell are you talking about? What are you playing at?"  
"I turned off the alarm systems mate. I fiddled with installation communication systems too. Shado's about to be in the shadows. I rather liked that turn of phrase-"  
Alec raised his gun but Rob easily overpowered him and knocked him down.  
"You disloyal son of a bitch. You betrayed Shado. You betrayed me. You watched as I shot Ed. You killed a FBI agent in cold blood. I want to know why!"  
"You've settled for being under Straker's heel for so long, you don't know you're dragging a ball and chain behind you. You're soft. At least Straker had balls, you're a yes man. Do you understand now, Freeman? I was alone with Straker on manuevers in a mobile when I was supposed to be out in the field backing him up. Straker had one of his hunches, went searching for the aliens on foot. I radioed to him that we'd gotten a lock on the UFO's location, told him the aliens were already aboard it and gave him new coordinates he'd need to get back safely to the mobile. Only those coordinates were right smack where two aliens were waiting for a prize I'd promised them. I delivered Ed Straker to them. The great man himself."  
"You call me stupid? You've been had. Whatever they promised you, you'll never see. Count on it."  
"You're going to die, Freeman. I'm senior ranking officer here. I'm going to tell staff that he went bonkers, grabbed your gun and killed the lady then you, and I had to kill him. They'll believe every word I say. Then I'm going to shut down Shado, and I'll be in charge. All that power, it shouldn't go to waste, right? I've had it with being an errand boy all my life. So now the question is do I kill you with your gun, or mine?"  
"You fucking piece of shit!" Alec snarled.  
"I tend to agree," Ed said from behind him. The blood drained from Alec's leathery face.  
Robin Ambrose spun around, and fired. Ed shook his head at him.  
"Sorry, Ambrose. I finally remembered the coordinates you'd given me had turned out to be a trap. So I had Miss Ealand bring me a couple of bulletproof vests, and some special effects blood packs along with a few other things I requested, then hid in my room. I'd asked for two in case something went wrong, and I was able to give one to Dana. Not to mention Ealand took Alec's real gun, which Dana is now aiming at you. As for your gun, she replaced the live shells with low velocity blanks. Vest or no vest, those blanks can sting like hell on impact. Now, you're going to tell me how you communicate with the aliens."  
"You think you're smarter than me?" Ambrose scoffed. "I think my Glock will make neat holes in you, Ambrose. Only I already know from your dossier that you're immune to most pain. So I asked Miss Ealand to include a scapel from Mayland Hospital's surgical tools in my get well box. It's interesting being cut open alive. I know that from experience, thanks to you."  
Robin made a break for it. Dana Scully shot him in the kneecap. He yelled and went down like the boulder he resembled.  
Ed looked at her. He squinted. She looked content.  
"I told you I'd handle that." he grinned.  
"I never agreed to it, did I? Besides, you're always deciding things without consulting me first. I have faith that you'll learn not to do that."  
"Dana."  
"Straker, if you say anything about me needing anger management classes the next bullet is going in your head."  
"I was going to say that was a damn good shot." he smiled at her. She beamed at him. Then she frowned. He didn't look well.  
"Ed, are you all right?"  
"Dana, I'm fine. I just have work to do."  
"I know. So give me the scapel."  
"What-what-"  
"You're stuttering, Alec. Incidentally shooting your commanding officer is a court martial offense. In your case I'll just cut off your bar privileges."  
Ambrose was screaming, causing both men to look in his direction.  
"Anything?" Ed asked casually.  
"When I do autopsies my patients are all quiet and peaceful. This one isn't cooperative."  
"Try harder, Doctor. I know. Try the part of a male's anatomy he suggested I didn't have. Alec, turn over command to me. Yes, it's a risk, but I'm no traitor."  
"Ed, how can I-"  
"It's water over the bridge. You carried out your duty. If my injuries hadn't been so severe, you would have seen Ambrose as a traitor long before I did. We were both in shock. Now make the call. And for God's sake, get me some coffee."  
"You stubborn Yank. I should have known nothing could stop you."  
"Jello can."  
"What?"  
Ambrose screamed again.  
"Your precious Shado will go down, you fucker. I'm not telling you a thing."  
"Step away from him, Dana."  
Something in his voice made her obey him. For the first time she witnessed the sheer force of will that made him a leader. Damn. I'm scared and yet I realize there's a part of him I never knew. So much for thinking I had Ed all figured out. He never calls me Scully, like Mulder does. I have to remember to ask him why.  
"You won't shoot me. I'll be court martialed. You're soft like Freeman."  
Ed raised the Glock and fired a single bullet into the man at his feet. Ambrose screamed and groaned.  
"That's an artery I took out, Ambrose. A major one. You're going to be dead in about a minute. Care to redeem yourself by making things easier for me? No?"  
"Don't-let-me-die."  
"You should have thought about what would happen if the aliens lost, Rob. " Alec said.  
"Ed, he's gone." Dana said.  
"Alec, make the call. We have to find out how he tried to sabotage Shado."  
Alec went out the door.  
"Dana, get me some water, will you?"  
"Here. Ed, you look like you're running a fever. Get over to the bed."  
"I can guarantee you that I am running a fever, and that finding me a antibotic that won't make me worse was near impossible while I was normal. God only knows what would have any effect on me now. Wait. The syringe in the drawer. I should have one more. And some ice?" He reluctantly sat on the bed, refusing to lay down.  
Dana gathered what he requested, trying not to panic at how ill he looked.  
"Roll up your sleeve."  
"OW. You sure you have a license to practice medicine?"  
"Shut up and drink up that water. I brought you plenty of ice. Here, I made a cold compress for you."  
"Soothing. I take back what I said about the-oh hell." Ed shoved the water at her and turned around and vomited over the side of the bed. He gasped. "I didn't enjoy that."  
"That's IT, Ed. Get in that bed."  
"Dana."  
"Ed, don't make me-"  
"Christ, what happened?"  
Ed gagged and dry heaved, then threw up again. Scully and Alec exchanged looks.  
"I blame the jello. Alec, get me a wheelchair."  
"Jesus Ed!"  
"What is it? Oh no. You're throwing up blood." Dana said. "Ed, we need to know why."  
"I don't have time for that. Alec, just get me a wheelchair and rush me to the communications center. I have to stop whatever Ambrose started. Whatever aliens he made a deal with must be waiting to see if he took us both out. If he cut off our communications, we'll have to rig up some kind of S.O.S. signal. I have a hunch a UFO will attack this base. We have to be ready for it-oh God. Dana, you assist Alec. I'm going to-" Ed passed out. She saw the blood on his jacket, like a dying red bloom in a field of snow.  
"ED! Alec, where's the medical unit here?"  
"I'll take him. Come on. If anyone can save him, its you."  
Alec picked Ed up as easily as if he were a dishrag.  
"What was in those syringes he had? He seemed to think it would help his fever."  
"That alien drug. It was the only thing that calmed him down." Alec said.  
He and Scully were walking swiftly to the medical center.

"What? That drug nearly killed him. Alec, he lied to you. He probably wanted it for pain. Do you have any idea of how much pain he'd be in from the way those vultures multilated him? How could you possibly think he was a traitor? He hid things in room 19. You know, the cell you put your best friend in until you had a convienient time to murder him?"  
"Dana, if I-"  
"You said he was suffering. How do you think he felt, waiting for you to kill him? I thought you were loyal to him!"  
"Damn it. Ed left me orders a long time ago. If he were captured I was to do everything in my power to destroy the UFO he was in, and if he came back I was to assume he was was a threat and take him out. I never dreamed it would come to that."  
"He isn't alien, Alec. Aliens don't run fevers or throw up blood,do they? "  
"We've only managed to keep a few of the ones we've captured alive. We've developed drugs from their bodies, but what you're asking about I just don't know."  
"Ed believed he survived because he bit an alien with some advanced life giving substance in its body and it infected him. It preserved him even after what he went through. Alec, pain that severe can kill. He made up his mind to live. I've seen too many patients give up hope. Not Ed."  
"I made mistakes in letting all this happen to him. I was the one who suggested Rob accompany him in the field. Ed's not even supposed to be out on those kinds of missions. No, he was obsessed with you and he assured me work would help. I made enough mistakes for ten men, but I did help bring you two together. Dana, you've got to save him. I've given you temporary Aegis clearance, it means all personnel will cooperate with you and give you anything you need."  
Alec set Ed gently on a stretcher. Dana started barking orders.

"What I need is my patient prepped for ultrasound. Stat. Where's his chart-I need IV fluids he's no doubt dehydrated I'll need an IV kit I need his blood type. Give me his vitals. Cut away his clothing. Allergy to antibotics? Hell, you never make it easy on me, do you, Straker?"

Alec smiled sadly and walked away.

I couldn't leave you in better hands, Ed. At least I've done that much for you. Now I have to act confident and save the organization. All you need to do is live.


	9. Chapter 9

The Great Escape

Shado Facility

Medical Division

exact location classified

"My God, just look at this. Blobs of tissue in place of organs. Cell growth rate doubled ,cells that don't look anything like I've ever seen before. " Scully blurted out.  
Ed Straker was losing his patience."You have your scans, and your ultrasound results, and I stopped throwing up. There's nothing you can do for me, Dana. Now I need to assist Alec in finding out what Ambrose had planned with the aliens."

"I don't understand why you were vomiting up blood I've seen no indication that you're injured, but God only knows what's normal for your body now. Your blood sample shows nearly normal levels but analysis shows that the blood you vomited up is abnormal. Ed, no. Whether or not I've found a reason for your fever, you still are at risk. You need to be observed over the next 24 hours. Alec isn't helpless. He can handle the crisis himself."

"I'll rest, but 24 hours is out of the question. I have a job to do. You win for now, but don't make a habit of it. Incidentally Dana, you were given a position with Aegis clearance. You are now in the service of Shado until I dismiss you. Your Federal Bureau of Investigation recognizes Shado's authority even though they don't understand what we do. Essentially, you work for me

.""You can't draft me , " she said fiercely.

"I already did. I have the authority to command any individual or any faction in any field I deem vital for Shado's purpose. That's what Aegis means. Look, the pain is starting up again and we know that the alien drug is all that is reliable enough to stop it. I don't have the time it would take to determine what dosage is safest. Have them process another batch of it.

""I'm not giving you more of the drug that nearly killed you."

"Fine. But know this. I don't require your permission to take it. You may presently be my physician, but in the end my decision as Shado commander overrides your medical judgement. If you want me in this bed, do it.

""You don't have to worry about my engagement ring, Commander. There will be no engagement. You're going to kill yourself long before we march down the aisle. You'll get your drug. I just want to go on record as objecting to it. Do they allow that in your damn organization?""

Objection noted, Dana. Now hurry."He watched her walk out. He then sat up, leaned over and pulled out the cord that was providing power to the medical monitor. The screen went dark. He pulled off the leads from his chest, removed his IV line, applied tape to the entry point. After that, he pulled on a robe over his paper gown and left the room decisively. One look from him silenced the medical personnel that Scully had been provided with. His great escape went unquestioned.

"Fill me in, Alec."

"Are you all right?""

Never mind that. What's the situation?"

"Rob changed the password to the communications systems. Two tech personnel were found dead, we're pretty sure it was his work. It looks like they tried to stop him. The computer is running an intercept now, but without that password we're dead in the water. We can't communicate with h.q. or even the IAC. He blocked celland landlineand emergency backup usage. We can't risk video or even audio transmission to another satellite even if that option was still open or we'd give away our location and the fact that we exist.""

We could transmit in a code that HQ could pick up if we still could reach the studio, but that son of a bitch took advantage of me being out of the picture. We don't have time for the computer to breach his password. Let me try, Alec.""

"Everything will shut down if we fail, Ed. HQ, SID, moonbase, everything." Alec warned.  
"Yeah, just long enough for a UFO attack." Ed said bitterly. "Which is the aliens' dream but our nightmare. All right, Alec! You knew Ambrose longer than any other operative. You recommended him to us. Did he ever mention codes or passwords to you?""

I've tried slang, miitary phrases, numerals, everything and gotten zero results.""He considered himself an errand boy. No, damn it. Error. Fuck!"

"Ed, you're not in any shape to be under this strain. Let the computer handle it. Our best minds created its programming.""

"Our best minds gave a traitor a free pass. So much for the G6. I admired Robin Ambrose, and I took into consideration that you recommended him so highly. We both were proved wrong. That fucking murderer-wait."

Ed typed a phrase on the keyboard.'Waiting for input, ' it said in its computerized voice."Voice print identification. Edward Straker." Ed intoned."Authenticity confirmed. Commander Edward Straker. Awaiting further input.""

"Alec Freeman." Alec declared."Authenticity confirmed. Standing by."

"Aegis Absolute Alpha. Priority Command. Delete Ambrose, Robin from senior staff, cancel his Aegis authority. List him as deceased, eliminated as being a traitor. Put all communication systems back online immediately.""

"Systems online. Transmissions unanswered in queue require attention. "

""Run all transmissions. Alec, you fill them in. I'm about to be chewed out by my doctor."

"You did it, Ed!""

Yeah, the guy you wanted dead saved our collective asses, Alec." Ed said wearily.

."I was following your orders! "Alec protested.

"I know, Alec. Ambrose was a traitor. Because he considered himself just an errand boy, expected to be loyal without question. Maybe along with tightening security and improving the reliablity of essential systems we shouldn't forget something basic. Gut feelings. He considered you my yes man. That's far from the truth. I may still be a threat to Shado. However when paranoia is the order of the day, then how are we different than the enemy? Maybe what protocol needs is breathing room. Maybe change might do us good."

"Ed, wait, what password did you type in?"

Ed looked directly at Alec."Fuck you." he said.

"Ed, wait. Was that literal or did you just.." Alec said.

Ed grinned."I'm temporarily relieving myself of command for medical reasons. You figure it out, Commander Freeman."

Alec grinned affectionately at his friend."I'll restore my bar privileges straightaway and drink to your health.

""You'd drink to the sun coming up, Alec. Wait, play that last text transmission back. Oh, terrific. Mulder showed up again. I thought I saw his name roll by. My eyes are still working, thank God.""

"Nothing's going to be working after I get through with you, Straker!" Dana Scully threatened from behind him.

He turned coolly, arms folded."Put your wrath on hold. Your nosy partner just landed at Heathrow. He's no doubt headed for the studio on a pilgrimage to find out how I managed to con you. He underestimates your ability to know a con when you see one. He still believes females, even fellow FBI agents ,need to be rescued. He's right for once. Someone like me needs to rescue you from him!"

Dana Scully reluctantly grinned.

"How do you feel, Ed Houdini Straker?"she asked.

"Beat, Doctor. I could use a couple aspirin and a couple hours of sleep." Ed admitted.

."How do you want me to handle Mulder, Ed?" Alec asked.

"Pick two of our sweetest private welcoming committee members and have them bring him in by force. Emphasis on the force.""

"Here? Are you sure you want him to see this new installation, Ed? The paint's not even dry on the walls."

"I'm not fond of repeating my orders, Alec." Ed pressed his lips together to underline his words.

. Alec nodded, began answering the frantic transmissions with assurances and explainations

."Ed, he'll go berserk." Scully said.  
"That's what they said about me when I survived the UFO abduction.." Ed reminded her grimly.  
"Ed, he's not going to cooperate he doesn't trust people like you.

""Fox is a good man. He deserves a chance to prove himself. If he finally listens."

"Listens to reason,you mean?" she said.

Ed stretched his arms slowly, winced, shook his head.

"Listens to me." Ed corrected her. "I'm the voice of reason."

"A man determined to worsen his condition by ignoring what his doctor tells him is not the voice of reason." Dana Scully said.

"Welcome to my world, Doctor. Ed never takes care of himself. Why do you think I need his office bar?" Alec teased. He put the earphones aside.

."Very funny, Alec. No. He's been chasing aliens a long time. I'm going to let him catch one.""

"Ed, what do you mean?" Alec inquired.

"I'm going to let him catch one. Me. Then maybe he'll realize that we're the same. I'm not a member of an evil cabal or some dark agency bent on world domination.""

"No, you just trick doctors into working for you against their will." Scully complained.  
Ed chuckled at her. Then he became serious.  
"You can't tell me that the prospect of working for our cause in any capacity you choose, completely unfettered by red tape, isn't appealing to you. Think about it, Dana."

Alec had given the order to restrain Mulder, and now he turned his attention to a stern looking Commander.

."He isn't that bad to work for, Dana." Alec said. "I named all the new wrinkles he gave me after him."

Dana Scully chuckled. Ed shook his head slowly.

"Without me givng you a worthwhile job Colonel Freeman, you'd be distributing stale peanuts to drunken customers in a pub somewhere.""

As long as I had free ale, I wouldn't mind. It would beat my friend making me swear to obey his last wishes and then when I actually did it, make me feel like I'm on the same level as Ambrose."  
Alec winked at Dana.

"Alec, if our roles were reversed, I would have shot you, except I'd make damn sure my gun was loaded with real bullets.." Ed's mouth curved in a slight crescent of a smile.

Touche." Alec grinned. "He never misses, either. He's the best shot in Shado.""

"Come on, Doctor. I need our medical center. And a decent pair of pajamas. Why is it doctors humilate sick patients further by insisting they wear gowns that wouldn't be adequate enough to cover a fly?""

"You can't tell me that with a sleek body like yours, that showing it off isn't appealing to you. Besides, you've got the sexiest little butt I ever saw." Scully said deliberately.. She watched Ed try to conceal a boyish blush with pleasure, but he quickly recovered his sangfroid."

"You obviously missed the rules about operatives' sexual harassment of their Commander , Commander, its against them. Taboo.""

"What about the Commander's fiancee? Doesn't she have any privileges?"

"She can always bring that up with the Commander-damn."

"Ed, what is it?" Alec said in alarm.

"I don't know exactly. I feel kind of strange. " Ed tried to get up from the seat he'd occuped at the communications station, but fell back down. He frowned.  
"No strength." he said.

"Alec, contact the medical division ,tell them we need a guerney, stat."  
Scully had reverted to her medical self

."Got it, " Alec replied, picking up the phone.

"Dana. I need to be warm.""

"Ed, you're hot as hell, I warned you about aggravating that fever. If we can't use a standard antibotic, we need to lower your temperature with ice.""

"Do that, and you'll be pronouncing my time of death and choosing a funeral wreath for my casket. I'm freezing. Warm my body."

"Trolley on the way.. Ed where are you getting all this from?"

"Alec. damn it! Listen to me. I'm not under the aliens' influence. I'm not Robin Ambrose. When they do the post mortem on him they'll find the transmitter they implanted in his brain. They've been monitoring his brain waves. Remember Croxley? At the last minute, Croxley defied them. Ambrose wanted power and prestige. He had basic intelligence and brute strength, but not confidence. Not the kind he wanted. The aliens know they failed. They're afraid of-" Ed looked confused for a moment. "Of me? Why? Yes, yes, definitely me. Damn it Alec, listen to me. They didn't see this coming. They never-God. God. No, I dnn't understand-for the love of God, Alec, It's me. Dana."

"Ed, lie down here, do you need help?""

"Tell him, Dana. Tell him. This is a leap of faith. This isn't a question of science. This is a gut feeling. Dana, please. Save my life. Dana, I can manage now. Yes I need you. God. Something God. Your name. God. Dana suits you. I'm so fortunate to have found you. Don't leave-""

Alec, put him on the guerney. Gently now.""

He can only hurt me if he gives in to his fear. You gave me your cross for a reason. Save me, Dana. Save me as I am. Don't go."

"Ed, my God, you're burning up." Scully's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm begging you if there's a need for that. Don't try to bring down my temperature. Heat the body. Heat it. My life depends on it.""

"Ed, rest now, its going to be all right." Alec laid his friend on the guerney and walked alongside it as Scully gave orders to the two nurses that accompanied her to the medical center.

Ed continued to speak to her in a faint voice, but he was growing weaker.

"Dana. You're beautiful. Inside. Beautiful. No. Don't be afraid-remember faith, remember miracles Starbuck. I love you."

Ed Straker blacked out. Scully clasped her hand over her mouth.

Hang on she thought. I don't know what's happening to you but I know I love you too. Don't die on reached the intensive care unit and connected him to the life sustaining equipment. Scully fastened the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth."

"Doctor, his temperature is 105 and climbing rapidly.""

"Treat him for hypothermia. And I want a supply of that drug he was self medicating himself with for his pain."

"Doctor, did I understand you correctly? If we don't bring that fever down, we'll lose him."

""Are you deaf? Treat for hypothermia, damn it.""

"Do what she said. I know we still have a batch of that drug he took. Have the exact amount standing by. I'm in command, do it. Come on, Ed. Hang on with that famous will power of yours." Alec pleaded.

The team covered Ed with heated blankets. His temperature continued to rise. Scully inserted an IV into his arm and started fluids.

."Doctor, we've lost vitals, or what registers as vitals."

"Damn it, we've been handling his case as if he wasn't abducted, as if he hadn't been multilated. All we really have to rely on is what he says to us, no matter how impossible it seems."

"Doctor, I'm sorry, but he-he isn't responsive."

"No, Ed. Do you hear me? Of course you hear me. No. Do you understand me? No, I won't accept this! Noo!" Scully shouted. She pried apparently sightless eyes open. His pupils were fixed and unresponsive.  
"Ed, don't you go. You owe me more white roses, you son of a bitch! You owe me a lifetime of white roses. Don't leave me! Don't walk away from me now. Don't escape this way. You weren't meant to be alone. Fight this!"

"Colonel Freeman, sorry to interrupt but team C are enroute with agent Mulder. ETA 2 minutes."

"When they get here, have him taken to and secured in unit 19."

"Yes Colonel." the aide left the room.

"Dana, you and I may need him, the world needs him but maybe its time to let him go." Alec said solemnly.

Scully raised her head and let go of Ed's limp hand. She smacked Alec across the face.

Alec reeled back, brought his hand up, wiped blood from his nose aside, startled. She'd meant business.

"You call yourself his friend? He needs you to believe! He survived what happened to him. You think a damn fever is going to kill-no no NO!" she yelled at him.

"Now look here. Ed didn't want to be kept alive. You're going against what he wanted."

"What he wanted? He probably didn't feel like he had anything to live for when he told you that! Didn't you hear him say change would do him good?"

"You've only known him for a few short months. I feel like I've known him forever. I've never met an individual that alternately was so pig headed about his physical well being yet so determined and dedicated to his job in my life. Do you think I want to let him die? Don't you know I fought him when he let you go once I realized that he loved you? I was there when he married, there when she broke his heart, there when he divorced, there when his only son, his only child died. I was there for his achievements, there when he sank under the weight of the responsibility he"d taken on. I was there when he was screaming while the doctors held what was left of him down, and stapled him up. I was there when he was tied to his bed, those eyes of his taking in nothing when before they'd missed nothing. I was there when he said my name and was himself again. So don't preach to me Dana Scully. He's my Commander, but he's my dearest friend."

"Then believe in him, Alec. Believe in whatever instinct he possesses that's keeping himself alive right now."

""Dana, he was hallucinating a minute ago ,for God's sake. He's done that before, right after the doctors put him together. We don't understand why or how a man without vital organs can still function. We don't know how he lived. Yes, I know he believes he had immunity from biting that alien he was trying to fight off, that theory was in his report of the incident. He isn't whole psychologically and he sure isn't whole physically after what he brutally endured. "

"He hasn't stopped being Ed Straker." Scully insisted. "He depends on your damn computers, but even after what happened to him, he was open to faith. Open to miracles. That's why he accepted my cross. He believed. Don't you see, Alec? Who are we to turn our backs on him now?""

"Dana, I'm acting Commander. I'm also executor of his will. I'm sorry, but I have to let him go."

"No, no you son of a bitch,you don't know what you're doing. You're letting fear win."

"Is that machine keeping him alive, Doctor?" Alec coldly addressed another member of the medical team treating the motionless Commander.

"Colonel, to be absolutely honest, he never was alive when we got him out of that UFO. Human beings don't live after all their vital organs are removed. He seemed alive, but not alive by the strict definition of the word. Now, now look, he's not responsive at all. Look at OH MY GOD."

Scully had stepped protectively between the bed and Alec, unable to see Ed for that short amount of time. Now she turned.

Straker's eyelids were twitching. He was moving.

"Ed, can you hear me? It's Dana!"

"Hold it right there."

Scully and Alec turned around.

Agent Fox Mulder had a gun, and it was pointed in their direction.

"Mulder, please. I'm not in danger." Scully pleaded.

"I just shot two guys that tried to lock me up. They muscled me into a car, gassed me unconscious and brought me here. I'd rethink that idea about not being in danger, Scully.""

"Mulder, I'm with a patient for God's sake. He needs my help. Don't do this to me now. Put down that gun, Mulder.""

"Scully, you're being fooled. Now get over here. I'm getting you out of here and I'll shoot the first person that tries to stop me."

"Mulder do you see this sick man? Do you?""

"Scully, they've done something to you. Brainwashed you.""Stop it!" Scully exclaimed."Scully, you need to trust me." Mulder cautioned.

"NO! Trusting you is all I've ever done. YOU TRUST ME NOW! Trust me, Mulder. See this man? Without me he won't make it. If he doesn't make it, the world will go to hell. That man risked a great deal to send me those white roses. He didn't care if I was an agent or a doctor, he only knew he was forced to give me up. Why? For YOU, you idiot. He thought I'd have a better life with you. I love him and I need him and I intend to marry him. Now put down that gun. Before you do anything else, use your head. These people are on your side. If you try to shoot them you'll have to shoot me first. Do you understand that, Mulder?"

"I understand I'm too late, so try to understand that I have to do this, Scully."

With that, Fox Mulder raised his gun and he unwaveringly shot his partner, Dana Katherine Scully.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Command Performance

Shado intensive care unit

exact location classified

"Dana! My God. Mulder, you filthy bastard! That was your partner you just shot." Alec yelled.  
"She'll be all right. But if you genuinely don't want to see her hurt, you'll let me walk out of here with her. Go for your gun and you'll regret it, whoever you are." Mulder warned. With all eyes on him, he approached an unconscious Scully. In her desperation to make him understand, she had drawn closer to him. It hadn't taken long for him to reach her.  
"You tell your friends here to let me go now. You won't get a clear shot at me. You'll hit her if you try anything funny."  
"We don't want to kill you. Can't you see that? Why don't you listen to Dana for a change? For God's sake, give him a kit. I'm assuming you didn't shoot to kill but a shoulder wound isn't easy for a person with basic first aid training to treat. I'd hate to be you when she wakes up and realizes you temporarily took out her arms. She's a surgeon, and you just handicapped her."  
"Shut up. Toss that kit here, wait, open it. All the way. Okay, slide it over to me."  
"Be reasonable for Christ's sake. We have complete medical facilities right here. The best doctors." Alec tried to explain. "Let us examine her. You'll be right there. Aren't you afraid that she may go into shock?"  
"Move away. Tell those clowns to move away."

Ed Straker suddenly groaned very loudly.

Alec was startled, he'd forgotten that Ed was still in the intensive care unit, probably fighting for his life. He moved to Ed's side.  
"What's going on with Commander Straker?" Alec asked the attending nurse anxiously.  
"Colonel, I don't believe this, but I can't question our medical telemetry. He has a pulse. A genuine pulse!"

"It must be a fluke. The machine is malfunctioning. It must be. Ed, can you hear me?"  
"Alec? My hearing is diminished. Get in closer, please." Ed barely croaked out to his second in command.  
"This any bett-"  
Commander Ed Straker sat up without warning, pulled off his EKG leads, thus knocking his IV bag and tubes onto the floor. He grabbed Alec's pistol out of the hip holster beneath Alec's brown Nehru jacket, leaped off his bed into a area out of range of Mulder's gun , did a somersault, balanced himself on one knee, flicked the safety catch off and aimed and fired at Mulder. It took him all of about fifteen seconds.

"That was for shooting my future wife." Ed informed Mulder in a voice that could freeze volcano lava.  
The Commander's expression was a stone slab. Mulder fell like one.  
Agent Fox Mulder had dropped his partner and collapsed. Ed ran up to Scully, lifted her tenderly, and put her down gently on a empty guerney.  
"Prepare two operating rooms for immediate surgery stat. He's going to need it. Colonel Freeman tends to use larger caliber slugs than I do. His bullets make unhealthy holes in people. Dr. Scully is my priority. Mulder can bleed more, as far as I'm concerned. Incidentally, when you do remove Agent Mulder's bullet, check his skull. You'll find a device similar to the one in Robin Ambrose's rotting brain that no self respecting maggot would go near.. Then turn both of them in to our tech labs. The boffins will have a ball taking them apart. Let's hope they give us an advantage over the alien scum. Alec, what are you staring at?"  
" Other than the fact you pulled your IV out of the vein in your hand with those martial arts acrobatics and you're bleeding all over the clean floor? Nurse, see to the Commander's wound right away. Why am I ever surprised at what you do? How long were you awake? "  
"Long enough to hear the shot that greenhorn bastard of a FBI agent fired into my Dana. How is she, Nurse?"  
"Commander, no worries. She's in perfect physical shape, vitals steady enough, just give the surgical team time to prep, we'll have the bullet out of her in no time. Now sit so I can work on that hand of yours before you pass out from blood loss."  
"Out in no time?That's what they told me in Nam. I still don't have full use of my left arm. If Dr. Scully loses one tenth of her shoulder or arm mobility, I'm going to take my displeasure out on your collective medical personnel hides."  
Ed had reluctantly let go of Scully's hand. He smoothed her titian hair down, and allowed the team to take her. He folded his arms as they wheeled Mulder in after her. Then he sat on the edge of the bed he'd been on.  
"How can anyone be so absolutely wrong? Yes, yes, he was under alien control, like Ambrose. But for the love of God Alec, the idiot is an FBI agent. How could he be so wrong? He could have killed her."  
"I was about you." Alec admitted.

Ed's mind was obviously on Scully. Between wincing at what the nurse was doing to his hand, and looking in the direction of the room they'd wheeled her into, he was hardly listening.  
"You were what? Here, I borrowed your sidearm, Alec."

"I couldn't help but notice that, Ed."

"Damn, my bad shoulder hurts, I smacked it in the middle of my somersault."  
"I was wrong. About you, Ed. There are a couple of hardest substances in thesmacke and you're one of them."  
" Aggregated carbon nanorods and diamonds." Ed said.  
"Aggregated carbon what? "

"ACNR. Never mind, Alec. What was the point you were trying to make? Wait a minute, did I say my shoulder hurt?"  
Alec grinned widely at his preoccupied lanky friend.  
"You're supposed to be as hollow as General Henderson's head. Only you're having your old bodily sensations from your Vietnam injuries and that nurse that is plugging up your vein said you had a pulse."  
"That would mean I still had a heart," Ed said absently.  
The nurse lowered her head, trying not to chuckle. He looked at her sharply.  
"A doctor who will make a superb addition to our organization just got shot by a man she totally trusted, Nurse Manjanath. Maybe you'd like to point out to me exactly what you find so funny about it."  
"I like Dr. Scully very much, and I agree with you. I know you are right but so often you do this behavior, pulling out needles, escaping, ignoring your own health." the Bombay born petite nurse said.

Alec noted she didn't seem intimidated by Ed Straker at all.

"She is used to flower covered sacred cows in India, Ed. You don't impress her." Alec joked.

The nurse giggled but sensing Ed's less than tolerant mood, cut it off quickly, ducking.  
Ed glared at her as he held the cotton in place over the wound, and she taped it securely. She cleaned off the blood on his hand and arm carefully.  
"The Commander impresses me very much. That is not why I laughed. I meant no disrespect. Do not remove that bandage for a while, please."  
"I've had IV's before, Nurse. I don't need to be lectured. I've had enough IV's stuck in my veins to last me a lifetime and plenty more of the morphine that often accompanies them. Now exactly what did you find amusing?"  
"Commander, when you did what you did, you lost most of your paper gown, and your thin hospital robe is not exactly large enough to mantain your dignity. I can see that that the Hindu goddess Rati blessed you generously. Your incision scars seem to be fading, and your blood volume obviously seems to be returning to normal too. If you two gentlemen would please excuse me, I will see if our Dr. Scully is all right."  
Ed looked down at hmself.  
He was half naked.  
It was the half he feared most, too.  
Alec had exploded into guffaws.  
Ed just looked at him in a long suffering manner.  
"Colonel." Ed said icily.  
"Yes, Commander? Do you need me to cover up something for you?"  
"Give me your jacket. That's an order."

At this point Ed was hanging (or maybe hanging was a poor choice of words in the situation he found himself in, he realized) by a thread to his dignity. He was actually concealing a grin from Alec.  
"Want me to have it dry cleaned first?" Alec said in an innocence which, Ed thought defiantly, Alec certainly had been born without.  
"Colonel, why don't you hand me your gun again?" Ed suggested casually. "I'm in need of a target to shoot at. I need an extremely small microscopic target for practice. Withered looking would be good, too."  
"I'm loyal to Shado and I'm loyal to you, but I'm not THAT loyal. I have to have something to dangle around that's superior to yours."  
Ed jerked the jacket away from an insufferably pleased with his own ribald joke Alec Freeman and tied it around his waist.  
"Superior, huh? Alec, Dana's going to recover. She's not going to appreciate convalescing. She'll need to have physical therapy. I can't think of any better way to exercise those lovely surgeon's hands of hers than operating on you. Blindfolded. In the dark. On heavy drugs. Do I make myself clear?"  
"Ed that was one incredible shot you made when you fired at Mulder."  
"Don't you even try to change the subject Colonel Freeman. I thought you were my friend. I know the medical personnel are no strangers to my male anatomy, but for Christ's sake, you just sat there during all that? Oh, stop that laughing!"  
Ed grinned finally and Alec grinned back.  
"Truce?" Alec chuckled.  
"Truce. I have a report to write up. I still don't know what's happening to my body but I seem to be getting things about people and places without knowing how or why. I'm as baffled as all the rest of you."  
"All that counts for now is you're alive, Ed. Come on. Let's get you showered shaved and fed, then we'll see how Dana is. That report can wait a while."  
"You win, Alec. For now, that is."  
As the men walked to another section of the base, Ed Straker moved his hand to the cross he still wore and held it tightly.

Be all right, Dana Katherine Scully. That's an order.

.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Dogs and Deception Shado installation Private recovery room exact location classified

"Dr. Scully? How are you doing?"  
"I've had a lot of time to think, Nurse."  
"Do you want more pain medication?"  
"Morphine doesn't work on broken hearts, Nurse Manjunah. Nothing works on broken hearts."  
"You mean your partner?"  
"Yes, my very ex partner. Why hasn't Ed come to see me?"  
"He's been here."  
"When?"  
"You were wheeled into this recovery room. He stayed with you. You were semi conscious."  
"Where is he now?"  
"He went to London for something. He did not specify what for, but he said to tell you that he'd be back soon."  
"I don't even know his phone number." Scully began to cry, looking at the telephone next to her bed.  
"Poor thing. Let it out. Oh how silly I am to forget! He left a package for you. We have been busy tonight, Agent Mulder shot two of our guards, fortunately they survived, but it was touch and go for a while. Agent Mulder recovered well, he is in our security section, he won't be going anywhere in his condition. I have something I thought you would like to see. Here, have more tissues."  
"I never want to hear the word Mulder again." Scully blew her nose, sighed. "Here is your package."  
"Strange. It isn't a gold box and its huge. Ed always sends me roses in a gold box. White ones."  
"You are so lucky, that is so romantic. You will forgive me but I have a confession to make. I have always had a crush on the Commander. "  
"I can see where any woman would. Have you known him a long time?"  
"May I call you Dana? My name is Kama. I was born the youngest into a large family, we were very poor. My parents died in a motor accident and my older sisters and brothers scattered when I was still young so I depended on my eldest brother Aadi to look after me. Aadi took any work he could find to afford to feed us, and soon he came home with a lot of rupees. One day he did not return home and British strangers came and asked me many questions. I had learned a little English from the radio and from Aadi. Basic words. These strangers asked me about Aadi and I was very frightened. They told me he was dead. My world just fell apart. Then a good looking man came in, American, very slim, very serious. I thought he was an angel with his big blue eyes. He asked me about the medical books in our house. I told him I wanted to be a nurse. He told me Aadi had been killed by very bad men, and that Aadi had worked for him. He said my brother was a good man, and in his will he had left me money to pay for nursing school. He said he would take me to England because that was Aadi's wish for me. He was your Ed. Much, much later I learned that Aadi had been in Shado, and been killed by aliens. I learned about Shado, and I became a nurse. Your Ed was very kind to me, but he was very aloof. He seemed sad, too. If I had been braver, I would have asked him to go on a date with me. I never did. I have a boyfriend now, but I still find Ed dreamy." she chuckled.  
Scully smiled.  
"I know so little about him but I love him. Ordinarily I would never be drawn to a man I hardly knew, not to mention my being so determined to keep him in my life. "  
"Watch this tape. All areas of this installation are monitored by closed circuit cameras, including our critical care unit, and my boyfriend Adam works in security. Part of his job is to archive the video tapes. This is the tape of what happened after you got shot. My boyfriend is working tonight so he is not taping me showing you this so Ed won't know. I think you will learn a little more about Ed from it. A revealing look," she giggled.  
"Is this some kind of joke, Kama?" Scully asked, irritated.  
"Just watch. I will come collect the tape when my shift is over. Do you need help opening the box? I don't want you to strain your shoulder."  
"No. Goodnight, Kama."  
"Goodnight."  
Scully shook the package, puzzled. Carefully she opened it. She squealed. Inside was a toy stuffed dog, a cream and gold Pomeranian. There was an index card attached to its velvet collar. In handwriting she recognized as Ed's was written : I like redheads. My name is Embie, M B for Moby Dick. "Somehow Ed must have known about my poor Queeg queeg. There's nothing he doesn't know about me but I don't even know his private phone number. Damn, now I'm crying again, Embie."  
Scully lifted the dog out of its box to hold it close and noticed another index card underneath it. It said I love you Dana. Your Ed. P.S. Look in the bottom night table drawer.  
Scully set the dog aside, and opened the drawer. Inside was a smartphone. She turned it on, went over the apps on it. She came to the speed dial section and her heart lifted when she saw that 9 was marked Straker. She hit the button.  
"Straker. I'm not available at the moment but-" There was a click. "Dana, how are you doing. I didn't think it would take you long to find my connection. Don't worry, I'm told that dog Embie is housebroken."  
"Are you?" she teased him.  
She listened with pleasure to his soft chuckle.  
"I promise to go on the paper, chase the postman and fetch your fuzzy slippers. Are you still sore? "  
"Some. The doctor came and saw me, told me I shouldn't have any problems recovering. Ed, where are you?"  
"In my car, driving back to the installation. I was with you shortly after you came out of the sedation. I thought it would be better to allow you to sleep. I left you for a while, slept for a while myself, then picked up that toy from Miss Ealand and gave it to the nurse. Dana, I'm sorry, I really am sorry about Mulder. He was being controlled by an alien device in his skull, but he's fine now."  
"Ed, he doesn't exist for me anymore."  
"He thought he was protecting you. I spoke to him briefly and said you were all right. I usually don't beat up people who are recovering from gunshots but it did cross my mind after seeing you so helpless. Dana, he-"  
"He put me in this damn bed. How is that protecting me? He would have shot you too. What are you doing driving around after being so sick?"  
"Dana, I'm recovering fast. The doctors discussed doing some corrective internal surgery on me to make me appear a little more physically human."  
"Nobody's touching you without me there. I mean it, Ed. Do you think it matters to me that your body is different? Ed, did you really ask me to marry you?"  
" I did indeed. How do you feel about moving into my house? You could keep your place too. We can see one another as often as possible. Or we can go house hunting together."  
"I'm not going back to the FBI. I'll practice medicine here at Shado. Or anywhere. Or I'll iron your shirts and cook you dinner. As long as we're together it won't matter."  
"Dana, you experienced the trauma of being shot by your partner, a man you worked with for years. It's bound to shake you up, make you anxious and desperate and liable to make rash decisions that aren't well thought out. "  
"Don't second guess me, Ed. I know what I'm doing."  
"You couldn't quit medicine no more than a bird could stop chirping. If you wanted to continue your investigational work here you'd have a choice between working at the installation or at New Scotland Yard. I have contacts there. Whatever you decide, my advice is to take all the time you need before you make a choice."  
"Ed when are you getting here?"  
"About an hour."  
"I miss you. Damn it, I'm over emotional tonight."  
"Anyone would be. You went through a difficult time."  
"Do you miss me?"  
"I miss Embie, we grew very close in the short time I knew her."  
"Ed, will you stop joking around, besides how do you know its a she?"  
"She told me, of course."  
"Ed, you're making me jealous of a stuffed dog. So you knew about Queeg Queeg?"  
"Yeah, strangely enough it was in the dossier we had about you. I've always liked dogs. I had one as a pet when I was young, oh, six or seven years old I'd guess. My father didn't appreciate animals, so he got rid of it. Supposedly it nipped him, and he shot it. That dog was the gentlest, most loving soul I ever knew. I didn't believe my father then, nor do I believe him now. I must have cried for days. My mother was under my father's heel so she just accepted it. Funny that I remember that after all these years. You needn't be jealous of Embie, she prefers redheads."  
"Will I meet your parents?"  
"My parents are dead. My father shot himself, and my mother got the news that my phantom had been shot down in Vietnam, and had a fatal heart attack."  
"Shot down? Ed, what happened?"  
"Well, I'm surprised you and Mulder didn't dig that far back into my history. I was a p.o. about two years. Eventually I led a group of fellow prisoners in an attempt to escape. Now before you call me a hero, I was kind of forced into it. A priest was my designated senior officer, I'd gotten to know him through tap code, and he froze when it was time to take action. I took over. Most of us didn't make it, and I was shot up pretty badly, lost some mobility in my arm and shoulder. It still gives me a lot of trouble. That's all old news, sweetheart. You get better, for now that's all you need to concern yourself with. We'll decide about your future together."  
"I know so little about you. Ed, please come back soon. I need you."  
"You probably say that about all the Shado commanders who trick you into being assigned to their organizations."  
"Damn it, Straker. Come home."  
"On my way, redhead. Oh, and tell nurse Manjunath to destroy that video tape she snuck to you after you watch it. If she tries that again, she'll be shoveling sacred cow dung out of the Ganges river for the rest of her life."  
"How did you know?" Scully laughed.  
There was a click signifying he'd hung up and she pouted.  
"Embie, just so we're clear about things, he's all mine. Now let's watch a movie."  
Scully inserted the tape into the player. She cringed at the sight of Mulder threatening Alec and the others. She heard Straker's moan.  
"Freeman just up and leaves my Commander? Oh. Oh my God. Wait, what? My God, now Ed's an action hero? The IV! Oh real smooth, Ed, bleed to death. Wait, was that his penis-" Scully giggled. "What a darling little dog! May I watch with you? My shift is over, so I thought I'd bring your dinner. I promise no jello. Ed hated it."  
"Kama, he has no idea that he's naked. " Scully laughed. "Dinner smells good, I almost forgot I was starving."  
"He was too worried about you. He didn't seem to care that his vein was open. Alec has always said he was an accident waiting to happen on two scrawny legs. Then he jumped off the bed. Generally he is introverted and serious, an intellectual thinker. It is easy to forget he is an athlete skilled in martial arts and a marksman."  
"Kama, I talked to him a moment ago. He knows about you giving me this tape." Scullywarned.  
Kama was pouring Scully's coffee, now she removed the chrome cover from her plate. "Chicken and potatoes, a roll and a sundae. Smells wonderful. Very delicious. You eat it all now, Dana."  
"Kama, aren't you in the least concerned about him knowing?"  
"Dana, he rang here and told me to do it in the first place!" Kama giggled. Scully's mouth dropped open.  
"Doesn't anyone tell the truth around here?" Scully mock complained."Not even you?"  
"Dana, he knew it would raise your spirits. There is something else. Mr Mulder is very anxious to see you."  
"No. I don't have the slightest interest in seeing him, sorry."  
"He is in room 19, if you change your mind. He refuses to eat. He is very scared, under guard. I know you feel upset, but take the high road, and talk to him. It would be good for you too. For now, use the power wheelchair. I will see you tomorrow and transfer you to your private room. Take care, Dana. I look forward to working with you again in Shado."  
"Thanks for everything, Kama."  
Scully watched the tape several times while she ate.  
He loves me. I miss you so much, Ed. Now what do I do about Mulder?  
She finished her meal.  
"Embie, we might as well go face Mulder and say goodbye." she said to the stuffed toy. "After that I write my resignation letter to Director Skinner."  
Goodbye FBI. Hello Shado, Scully thought. No Ed, this is no rash decision. I've finally come home. To Shado, to love, and to you, my Ed. Somebody has to keep you from bleeding!  
Scully chuckled to herself, content.

Kama Manjunah put down Mulder's tray on the wheeled table. He couldn't help noticing that she was exotic, dark skinned with waist length black hair, and hot, but he didn't trust her at all.  
"If Scully is all right like all of you Shado dark ops vultures tell me, then I want to see her. I don't buy your lies about something was put in my head that screwed with my thinking. You nick my head and expect me to swallow that crap? So forget it. I demand to see Scully now!"  
"Dana is becoming my friend, and soon she will be my boss, which delights me. She does not want to see you. I don't blame her. Now eat your food. You shot my Shado colleagues, my friends, they nearly died. They have families, wifes and children too. We aren't the enemy but you fail to see the very truth you chase. Good night."

Scully, why won't you come see me? They've victimized you, I know it. You were always a sucker for romance and a sob story. He buys you some lousy flowers and you're already planning your trousseau? I'm going to figure out a way to break out of here, and I'm taking you with me. I've been crazy about you for years. I just didn't know how to tell you. The X files got in my way. You just wait, and I'll make you see that Straker is poison, and not for you. You've left your science far behind you. But Spooky Mulder is the one g-man who knows what's good for you, babe. So just wait. I'm going to take you home. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

You are my Air

Southern England motorway

Straker's Bronze Shado Car

"When did Henderson get back?" Ed asked sourly. He was on his car speakerphone with Alec Freeman.  
"Couple of hours ago, Ed. Thanks for coming in like that. I'll explain to Scully later."  
"I am Commander of Shado did you think I wouldn't? We have a UFO incident on our back porch, I'm there. As for Dana, she isn't Mary, Alec. She understands the importance of our work. I'm coming in, I will explain to her about the delay in getting back to her."  
"What do we tell Henderson about you being alive?"  
"He's going to read the reports anyway. Telling him lies will only make things worse for us. Jackson and the other medical staff have recommended I continue, with the suggestion I take time off for the corrective surgery. I don't understand the insights I've been getting, but let's look at my theory again. My body functions seem to have speeded up. Why wouldn't my brain react in the same manner? Croxley had to live with his ESP since he was a kid. I've always tested high for it. This is an extension of what I already had. Being so close to death had a further reaction on my neurons, on my body, on my very personality. Alec, I know you're still scared. You have to give me a chance to demonstrate that its me. If Henderson raises the alarm , tries to drum me out of the service, you take over. You speak in my behalf. Henderson trusts Jackson, and Jackson cleared me. The senior officers will back me up. For Christ's sake, Alec, if I thought for a fraction of a second that I genuinely threatened the security of Shado or the lives of my people, I'd put a bullet in my head. "  
"Ed, aren't you in the least bit scared of what's happening to you?"  
"Alec, I have to go forward, not back. The new Northern Shado facility is still being completed. I'm going to offer Dana a choice of position as Chief of staff of the medical division at our facility, some position elastic enough for her to do surgery. I can't see her being comfortable with a desk position. From what you told me, people are already beginning to warm to her. I'd like to see Kama Manjunah move into the position of Nursing Officer. She and Dana get along well, and its been satisfying to see her grow. We still have the problem of Mulder."  
"Ed, in all the ruckus over SID picking up that UFO, I forgot to give you the report on the two devices we removed from Ambrose and Mulder. They were advanced technology but they were biological in substance. Ed, they were alive."  
"My God. What I can't understand is what was their purpose? Did they cause Ambrose and Mulder to become violent, or merely amplify what was already their intent? Ambrose turning against us, and Mulder turning against Dana? Alec, we've never dealt with this kind of thing before. How did they get into the two men's brains in the first place? "  
"Mulder was in Oregon investigating a monster case, and Ambrose was putting together a security division for our Northern England H.Q. We know the aliens can control people, Croxley and later our Paul Foster. " Alec said.  
"Yes, and Craig Collins. But getting close enough to them to do an invasive surgery?"  
"Ed, suppose it isn't surgery, suppose its some sort of bacteria and the final stage is what we took out of Ambrose and Mulder? The lab techs could only confirm that at some point it was alive."  
"Alec, inform the lab I want the two life forms or devices destroyed. Extreme heat or extreme cold should do it. If we have to, we'll blast it into space in an unmanned vehicle. At least we know now what to look for?"  
"Ed, when's the last time you got some sleep? You sound exhausted."  
"I got an hour in after Dana got out of surgery. Yes, Alec, I know, I know. I'll bed down soon as I get back to the new h.q. I promise."  
"Your redhead will kick my ass if I don't take proper care of you before your wedding."  
"Yes, yes I've found that she's quite formidable when pissed off. The problem is that she's quite attractive when angry too." Ed chuckled. "I find myself pushing her buttons just to set her off, and she's quite aware of me doing it. Alec, its so rare to find someone equally as intelligent as she is beautiful."  
"Ed, you sound happy." Alec said.  
"Let's say I'm cautiously happy. I want so much to make this work. I want to be who she wants, I want to be who she needs. That girl deserves happiness. I want to be worthy of her. She's something special. Being around her, it almost seems that I'm breathing some rarified air, and that up to now I've been robbed of oxygen. She's an extraordinary girl."  
"Ed, I think she still has the scapel. She might still use it on you if you don't stop calling her a girl." Alec laughed.  
"Alec, I'm more than quite aware that she's every inch a woman. Mind the store for me, Alec, and stay sober until the wedding. I need a best man."  
"Did you find the right ring yet?"  
"Some of her file photographs show her wearing simple gold earrings and pearl studs. That was her old FBI life. I have other baubles in mind for Mrs. Dana Katherine Scully-Straker. Things more suitable for the wife of a military Commander."  
"Good God, what a name. What did you buy her as an engagement ring? The Kohinoor diamond?" teased Alec.  
"Alec, did you know there is a natural green diamond in existence, made into a pin? Unfortunately, I failed to smuggle it out of the green vault in Dresden, Germany. Then I realized that I should consult her on such an important decision. "  
"Ed, don't you trust your judgement in such things as picking out a ring?"  
"I've already chosen a simple rose gold band for myself. I found that regular yellow gold reminded me too much of Mary and it's part of my past. Besides, I find I like the rose tint and it reminds me of Dana's hair."  
"So you got a cubic zirconia from one of those television shopping shows for your redhead?"  
Ed sighed. He grinned at the sound of Alec's laughter.  
"No wonder your girlfriends all dump you, Alec. See you in the morning. Good night."

Ed terminated the call, checked the time.

Hopefully, you're asleep. I have some surprises in store for you. Damn traffic. Should ease up when I turn off soon. Wait, Manjunah should be making rounds soon, I'll ring her.

"Commander, I was just thinking of calling you. Dr. Scully finally spoke to Agent Mulder, she convinced the guard to remain outside with me."  
"Nurse Manjunah, she was not in any condition to meet with him so soon after that incident, and I left orders Mulder was to see no one. Was she at least armed?"  
"Sir, it is Dana's life. She decided to do it on her own. Mulder was calling for her. What he did was shocking yes, but he is doing what he thinks is his duty. He isn't on his turf. Shado can be intimidating. It was to me. Without my brother, I was lost. I understand a little about what Mulder must be going through."  
"Has Dr. Scully been moved from recovery into a private room?"  
"Yes, Commander. She was moved this morning. She seemed very quiet, she didn't tell me much about what happened."  
"Manjunah, I had hoped to recommend you for the position of nursing officer at end of year evaluations. However, your expertise with patients and general personnel doesn't excuse your disobeying my direct order. Do you hear me? Tell Dr. Scully I'm on my way there."  
"Sir, she is here, you can tell her."  
"Put her on."  
"Ed."  
"Did the nurse go?"  
"I heard some of your conversation with her. I did make her and the guard stay outside. I was armed. "  
"We had an UFO incident, that's why I didn't show up last night. I'm coming now, we have a lot to discuss together. How are you feeling?"  
"Ed, I'll be fine. Listen, I'm very sorry, but as soon as Mulder is ambulatory, I'm returning to the FBI with him. It was wonderful, Ed, but a fairy tale was all it was. It wasn't real life."  
"Dana, what in God's name- Dana, listen. You, well, you can't. You can't do this after what we had together. Please. Please don't do this. I warned you against decisions like this. Please. I find that all I can say is please. I'm not the same man without you. Dana, right this moment I am wearing your cross. Don't do this."  
"Ed, I can't walk away from my career, my job in the FBI-"  
"Dana , do you realize that I love you? You are my air. I can't just let you go again!"  
"Ed, we'll talk soon. You just need to th-  
His scream cut into her reply.

At first she was stunned and silenced. Then a split second after the scream, the crunch of metal and crack of glass. A horn blasted without end.

Kama Manjunah turned white, then she grabbed the phone, interrupted the call and turned away from a frozen Scully. She desperately pushed buttons on a panel.  
"I need Colonel Freeman now! Commander Straker has been in some kind of accident. Yes, he was on the line and we heard it, yes, transmitting coordinates now. I heard him scream! His car may have been attacked by a UFO. Yes, sir. Yes! All right. Commander? Can you hear me? Please answer me. By my brother's soul, answer me!"  
"Kama."  
The nurse turned toward Scully.  
"I have nothing to say to you, nothing. I owe that man everything and you just tore his heart out a second time! You let Mulder get to you. You are a pig! Go away before I do something not befitting a nurse to you! How coldhearted can you be? I would eagerly give my life to comfort his for a few hours, and you turn him away? If he dies now let it be on your conscience if you still have one."  
"Kama where is he?"  
"Fool!" the nurse yelled at a disraught Scully.  
"Damn it, Ed made me your senior, now where is he?"  
"Go to your Mulder. Go where you belong. You are the one without a heart, not Edward Straker!" Kama walked off. Some operatives had gathered around, grim faced. Scully turned to them.  
"WHERE IS STRAKER!" Scully screamed.  
"Judging from that cry, maybe in hell, FBI lady. They'll be flying out to his location. They'll need every medic they can get with the Eagle down. You're still laid up. You couldn't hold a stethoscope wihout help. I didn't hear the eerie whine of a UFO. I think he crashed his car or was hit by one."  
"Now you listen to me! You're putting me in a car or plane or whatever it takes to get to him and I want a kit. Now, you understand me? NOW!" Scully lunged at him, grabbed his gun.

"Come with me." the guard told her. "This way."  
"No, are you deliberately trying to get me lost? This is the way to 19, where Mulder is."  
"19 has a shortcut to the airfield, where the medical equipped choppers are about to take off. You want to be aboard or not, Maam?"  
"Let's go."  
"Right then. In here. "  
"Scully, what's going on?"

Mulder had been dozing, now he sat up. "You escaped? Now that's the Wonder Woman I'm used to."  
"Mulder, shut up. Believe me, uhhhh! No wait NO!"  
"Rot in there with Mulder until we get the all clear from Freeman to give you the amnesia drug." the operative had pushed Scully to the ground after twisting her arm, then he grabbed his gun and locked both her and Mulder in room 19.  
Scully held on to the closet door handles to push herself up, wincing at the resulting pain in her wounded shoulder. The door swung open as she was on her feet, and Ed's delivery disguise fell out.  
"No God no. How could I be so stupid, Mulder? I love him. I've never loved anyone in my life the way I love him. But I allowed you to influence me, I put your needs before mine. Your damn XFiles.  
I let you convince me that you and the FBI needed me more than he did. The big importantstudio executive, the guy with all the power. That guy you mocked made me feel like I mattered. He made me feel beautiful. He made me feel loved. Ed. Ed. Forgive me! "  
She took the shirt and buried her face in it, sobbing. She paused, held it away from her, sniffed the pocket.

Petals. Crumpled and dry, dead. White Petals he had saved in his pocket, his sole memory of a beloved woman he had lost.

Lost to a sacrifice he had made because of his job, she thought, but more because of Fox Mulder. "You have no idea of who he is, of how his people look up to him. You claimed he was poison? He did everything he could for me. He survived being cut open, he survived his aliens slaughtering him, being abducted like your sister. He's on our side, but you go on your crazy rampage and you pull me into it. This was my chance at love. This was my opportunity to do something that would have made my Dad proud of me. Instead I let you talk me into being your partner again. Until you run off and ignore me and treat me like the girls in your magazines. Glossy playtoys, Mulder. That's how you see women. Sex toys. Nothing more. You thought you were entitled to me. "  
"Scully, you aren't.."  
"DANA! My name is Dana. He always calls me Dana, and now I will never hear that warm intonation of his again."  
The door lock rumbled after an intolerable half hour of silence in which she ignored Mulder's attempts to speak to her. Scully turned toward the door, full of dread.  
Slowly, Kama Manjunah entered.  
"I am sorry for what my Adam did to you. He too owes a great deal to the Commander. "  
"Kama, please let me go see him. I was wrong. I was confused, I need to apologize to Ed."  
"It is too late. Apparently a drunken lorry driver was coming down the motorway on the wrong lane and as Commander Straker made a turn, the driver smashed into the Shado car head on. Commander Straker was pronounced dead by our doctors at the scene."  
Dana Scully turned grey and collapsed.  
"Scully? Scully?"  
"There is nothing you can do for her. She loves him."  
"I've been stupid, haven't I? If she really loves that film guy. The poor thing. She'll never get over him. I'm sorry he's dead."  
"Yes, she will never get over him. I see that and you finally see that. Now that I see that, I feel better. We feared she would listen to you, go back to her old ways and she did. Now she faces how wrong she was. She is meant to be with him."  
"In the afterlife, you mean? Is she okay?"  
Kama knelt and felt Scully's pulse. She rose again, nodding.  
"She is strong in the body but gentle in the heart. She has just fainted. As I hoped she might."  
"What kind of nurse are you?" Mulder complained.  
"A wise one. She needed a shock in the heart to bring her alive. To make her understand her heart better."  
"What the devil are you talking about?" asked Mulder.  
"Commander Straker was very badly injured in the crash, which was exactly as I described to her. I just changed one thing. Commander Straker was stablized at the scene of the accident by our emergency medical response team, transported by helicopter to Mayland Hospital and rushed into surgery. Colonel Freeman rushed to his side, and just told us Straker is unconscious but so far remains very much alive. "


	13. Chapter 13

Unanswered Cry

Chapter 13

Apartment somewhere in Chelsea

Dr. Dana Scully's personal jounal

I asked to be transferred to another Shado medical facility since I no longer felt like I belonged at the northern Shado h.q. and I have been posted to Mayland Hospital. My injuries are healed to the point where I have enough mobility to perform surgery again. I learned that Mayland Hospital has a private corridor that leads directly to Shado HQ. Commander Freeman has been cordial with me but I can't help but think he blames me in part for the death of Ed Straker.

Mulder was given the amnesia drug, and it is my understanding he believes our investigation into Straker led to no evidence that the film executive knew anything about Roswell or an alien coverup. He believes I was involved in an affair with Ed and when Ed died in the accident, I chose to stay at the Harlington Straker studio medical clinic and resign from the FBI.

I also understand Mulder was assigned a new partner. The last e mail I got from Mulder was apparently sent to impress me with his opinion that the new partner is boringly pro FBI, and hot. He wouldn't be amused if he knew she was undercover for Shado.

I miss Mulder from time to time, but I've moved on. I suspect what I really miss is the safety of my partnership with Mulder, knowing my place. I am respected in my current job, and I've had the opportunity to do research as well as practice medicine. I'm hardly being honest with myself. At night I miss Ed, his teasing me, the way he smelled, the touch of his hand. I remember his voice, and being deprived of it makes me feel I can't breathe. He told me I was his air, and now he's gone. I wasn't allowed to attend his funeral, in fact a computer search said only that an unidentified man was critically injured in a motorway accident, which killed the drunken driver.

Freeman tells me he's bound by his job to remain silent. The secrecy is driving me mad, and my only peace is at times like these, in the apartment they chose for me, where I'm free to not be Dana Scully, doctor but just Dana, a human being.

I find myself crying a lot, like an amateur. I try to find meaning in all of this but I come up short. My work sustains me. I have new patients to think about.  
I find that if I don't concentrate on work, all I think about is Ed Straker. I find myself imagining cooking a meal for him, learning more about him, discussing our workdays together. We were lovers but he is still an enigma to me. A puzzle that I will never solve because the jagged pieces are missing. Memories of him only make things worse.

Enough misery for a night. I'll go around again to the corner grocery store, and pick up some dinner. The food is excellent but the owner is East Indian, and she reminds me of Kama . I know Kama finds me repulsive. Why wouldn't she?  
The last word Ed heard me say was goodbye, he must have thought me heartless too. Perhaps I am.

Scully pulled on a jacket, grabbed her handbag, and took her keys from a hook. The apartment was much more lavish than what she was used to, she had a terrace she could garden on, and reluctantly she had to admit the people watching was appealing. For a while some of her neighbors had been intrigued by having an American next door, and had formally invited her over for tea, which she soon discovered was more like a generous brunch. Her career was a respectable one, and they'd mostly talk about that. Sometimes they'd ask for a bit of medical advice, or tell her where to shop, and was she liking England and would she be staying. For some of them, the telly was their only source of info on America.  
Scully bought orange juice and coffee and eggs and bagels for breakfast and picked up a frozen pizza and beer, was told to come back again as they were all out of cream cheese that day. Midway to her apartment she started crying because it occured to her aside from coffee she didn't know what Ed liked. He had made her an omelet at his place and she remembered he was quite at home in the kitchen.  
Scully arrived home, kicked off her heels, popped the pizza into the microwave and settled into the sofa across from the tv. Telly, she reminded herself.  
She found nothing interesting on telly so put on the radio for company. Embie her toy dog was propped up on a chair, and seeing it brought on fresh sobs.

Culture shock, this is all it is. Strange country, strange neighbors, not feeling comfortable and damn it get rid of the toy dog, you said you would. You haven't.  
The microwave buzzed and seconds later there was a knock at the door.

God, not that woman with the ear infection again. Terrified of antibotics. If I have to calm her down again I'll go mad. I don't care that I don't make her tea properly. God suddenly I want to scream.  
"Who is it?" Scully yelled.

"I came from the shop, Maam. I brought the cream cheese you like. Not that diet crud. Complimentary since you've moved into the neighborhood." It was said in a thick Indian accent. "Just a moment."

The viewer showed a man with face obscured by a wornout watch cap. Some instinct made Scully get her pistol. Once FBI, always FBI.  
She opened the door and she sagged against it in shock then pointed the gun at the man.  
"Who the hell are you?" Scully demanded.  
"Who the hell do you think I am? A ghost?"  
"You're dead, this is not happening." She was backing away from him.

"What is this compulsion you have to shoot me? I'm freezing, can I come in?"  
"Make a move I don't like and I'll empty this gun into you. Close the door then put the bag and the attache case down slowly."  
"Let me guess. Hands in the air where you can see them?"  
"Take off your clothes." Scully said.  
"I should have known this would happen in Chelsea. You're either perverted or you're about to rob me. Neither possibility thrills me much. Yes, yes, you mean business. Your microwave is yelling at you. Incidentally I was in that corner shop tonight and you didn't see me. I've been staying at Alec's since I got out of hospital. He lives nearby. In a house. All right, I presume you see the scars? "  
"Take off the hat."  
"No." he said firmly. "I had a damn gash in my head and they massacred my hair to put the stitches in. I admit freely to being vain enough to wear this hat until it grows in again."  
"Ed, is it you?"  
"You were expecting Queen Elizabeth? " Ed Straker asked. "Now can I put my clothes back on? This whole thing is starting to resemble a Benny King show. Put the electric fire on for pity's sake. I'm cold. "

"God damn you, stop joking, they told me you were dead!"

"They were almost right. Sprained wrist, gashed head, internal hemorrhaging from blunt trauma, concussion, bruising. I've been living on aspirin and coffee. Speaking of coffee, can I make some? Not that tea you buy.. Or are you still planning to shoot me?" He balanced on one leg than the other, getting dressed.

Without waiting for her reply, he picked up the bag and walked past her into the kitchen. He smelled of musk and crisp linens. It was the first time she had ever seen him in anything but pajamas and his Shado jumpsuits with matching jacket. He was wearing a leather jacket, dark blue jeans that looked new and an ironed linen shirt in light navy pinstripes. His usual white ankle boots completed the outfit. She told herself that if this was all a dream, she was loading up on melatonin. It was him. It had to be. She put her gun away and hurried into the kitchen in time to see him take the pizza out of the microwave and throw it into the trash bin.  
"What the hell are you doing? That was my dinner!"

"I'm sorry Doctor, it coded and I buried it. I'm cooking dinner for you. You're staying with me. I have Alec's house to myself. Come on. My car is nearby."  
"I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me why they convinced me you were dead."  
"Oh come on, Dana. You told the whole Northern H.q. that you decided to run off with that fool Mulder. You give me that news after I had fallen for you and decided to trust you enough to want to have some semblance of an ordinary life with you. I warned you Mulder would try to influence you, and you walked right into the guilt trap. I know about guilt, Dana. My wife was an expert on creating it in me. Blaming me for the loss of my son. I know that manipulation first hand. Did you expect that they'd tell you I'd survived? Of course I survived. The alien drug is still in me. My body is near normal. For once I know why. You ended the relationship, Dana. Remember?"  
"Why did you come then? To enjoy my pain? To gloat? I don't have Mulder or the FBI I don't have anything familiar, I don't have-"  
"Dana, if life here is so difficult for you, I can send you home. I have the means to send you back to Mulder. Is that what you want?"

"Life without you? What kind of life is that? I love you. "  
"Are you saying that because Mulder has a partner now? You may have heard of her. Her name is Kama Manjunath but she's Felicia Starr temporarily. " Ed grinned for the first time. "It was her idea, so Alec arranged it with my blessing."  
"Kama? Kama went undercover? Why?"  
"To demonstrate to you that you were easily replaced. Kama is Shado, and Shado training is easily superior to training in the FBI. She fooled Director Skinner and your boy Mulder easily enough. Manjunath is attractive, and she uses her sex appeal well. Her loyality is to me and Shado."  
"Mulder has always used his boyish charm to get women." Scully scowled.  
"Including you. I am aware of your personal sex life. Compared to other women in your field and age bracket, you haven't had that much experience. Mulder has. "  
"So I'm some unexperienced virgin who believes anything a man tells her, is that it? What right do you have to go nosing around in my sex life?"  
"You know exactly why I have that right. You don't work for a hospital. You work for Shado. You work for me. I need to know exactly what your strengths and your weaknesses are. What we do in Shado is too serious for us to take a chance on someone that can't handle the pressures of the job. Mulder got to you. I'm not saying he would talk you into betraying me but you changed everything after spending a lousy ten minutes with him. You have intelligence, you have determination and will, and dedication. Unfortunately you have a soft heart that leaves you vulnerable to people like Mulder. You're easily Mulder's equal in investigation, and in self defense. You're simply too sensitive for your own good. You fell for a simple bouquet of white roses." Ed smiled.

"If I'm such a pushover what are you doing showing up here?"  
"I'm here because I came close to death too many times and I had time to think if I played a part in our breakup."  
"What? No, no Ed. I was foolish."  
"You're interrupting me, Doctor. I decided I did play a part. I didn't fight for you. I am now. I made the decision to get rid of Mulder, and Manjunah volunteered to keep an eye on him while he adjusts to life without you. Unfortunately for him, he didn't hold you as precious as I have. He loves you in his own fashion. In his own time. He's always going to be searching for Samantha. I understand obssession. It's a strength and weakness of mine. So is the opposite sex. I met Manjunah when she was very young. I knew she was attracted to me. Coffee with cream, isn't it?"

"Did you memorize that or was that in my file?" Scully complained."So the dashing young Commander was sure that the shy nursing student was head over heals in love with him?"

"I wasn't very dashing during my time in India. My marriage was over. My son was buried under a strange name. I was unsure of myself. I relied on my duty to sustain me. Under other circumstances I might have taken her to bed, but not then. I haven't had a lot of sexual partners either, and as Alec put it when I proposed to Mary I was in love with love and infatuated with her. I didn't see the warning signs. I didn't see anything but my own stupidity. I resolved not to be involved with anyone again. When I did encounter another attractive woman, she took advantage of my loneliness and I let her do it. I enjoyed her company. I was a hell of a lot more vulnerable with her than you are with Mulder. Thank God for our security protocols. She was a con artist and I don't think she thought kindly of my gender anyway. I then met you. "  
"I hurt you. I'll never forgive myself for that. I think your sensitivity was what drew me to you. Your loneliness on the plane, your helplessness after I shot you. You came across all alpha male, the man in charge but you drew out such protectiveness in Alec. You seemed to cry out for comfort without saying a word. "  
"Nonsense, Doctor. I can take care of myself? That rot?" he smiled.

"Yes," Scully laughed. "God, I've missed you. I love you. Have you ever felt as though you both knew everything and nothing about a person? I feel that way with you. I couldn't stand thinking I'd never see you again."  
"You still had Embie. Come on, I'm starving, and unlike Mulder, I'm a damn good cook. Besides, there are some choices you have to make. You drive, I should rest my wrist."  
"I am staying in Shado. I know that much."  
"I wasn't talking about Shado. Come on, let's go."

Scully drove using the Shado car's GPS, as Ed nodded off in the passenger seat. She was confused at first because the destination was not in Chelsea. It was miles away in the countryside, in what seemed to be a gated area.

There was a guard who nodded at her, gave her car park instructions. It was a beautiful area, she half expected to see red coated figures chasing a fox. She was relieved that the bloody practice of fox hunting was over.

England still had a class system and she depised anything that might divide people. Although she made a healthy salary in her career, this community clearly was the cut crystal class, people who were above others. Alec lives here? It doesn't seem like something that would appeal to him, she mused. She looked over at Ed. He was fast asleep. She hated to disturb him. Now were was the button that opened the door? Looking for it, she noticed a tiny piece of glass in a corner with what looked like blood on it. She shuddered and resolved to examine Ed carefully. He opened his eyes.  
"Yes, I asked them to leave that there after they repaired me and the car. I needed to remind myself that they took some more just like that out of my wound. My harness worked but the impact was too strong, my head hit the shattering windscreen which folded like an accordian as the lorry hit. The air bag didn't do much, it got torn to bits. I threw up my hands as the lorry tore into my car. I'm told you heard me scream." Ed looked haunted by the memory.  
"It was one of the worse moments of my life. Ed, what is this place?"  
"Home. A few cabinet ministers and diplomats and ex military live here. Originally it was an estate. It's private now. Very wealthy bunch. Their butlers can afford butlers. I like it because its secure. One of our airfields is nearby. Come on, Lady Dana, our dinner for eighty is being served. Get my briefcase, will you?"  
"Am I your pack mule now?"  
"You're my doctor. Whatever you do, don't try to open it without sliding my name plate aside."  
"I remember. You don't plan to work tonight do you? " She helped him out and closed the wing door.

"There aren't any documents in it for the moment. You make a most attractive pack mule, Dana."  
"And you claim you're different than Mulder? I'm still a pack mule? I thought I left the X files."  
"You're the first pack mule in high heels I've ever seen. How do you walk on those contraptions anyway? Here. This three story building with the red brick walls."  
"Oh my God, its right out of Brideshead Revisited. Alec lives here?" Scully was enjoying herself.

What would her father think of his Starbuck now, if he could see her in such a grand locale? Dad, I love this man. Yes Dad, I know. He's Air Force. I'm not perfect. Neither is he. Well, maybe he is.  
"Alec? No, not at all. I thought you'd guessed that. He doesn't. We do."Ed said firmly.  
"Excuse me? Did you just say..."  
"Good evening, Sir. I took the liberty of having dinner served. I thought you wouldn't be up to cooking for the young lady this evening after your long drive. "  
"You have a butler? I don't believe this. Incidentally I'm not a young lady. I'm a Doctor." Scully insisted.  
"Whatever the young lady prefers." the butler said.  
"I can see you two will get along," Ed chuckled. "Let's eat in the cozy, the drawing room. The fire is relaxing."

Scully gave the elderly butler a sideways glance as he took her jacket and Ed's. Ed gave him an icy look when he made a futile gesture to take Ed's knit cap and it was Scully's turn to grin.

"This room is gorgeous Ed, are you sure this doesn't come from a studio set? What's that I smell? "  
"Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread with fresh mozzarella. He frowns at my meal choices but he'll have to get used to me and my Bostonian palate. Help yourself to the wine if you like, he dug it out of the cellar. There's coffee and tea and ale too."  
"A wine cellar?" Scully said after making a mouthful of delicious pasta disappear.  
"There's an indoor heated pool too. I swam to regain stength after the accident. You'll like the library and the media room. I'll have an upstairs bedroom converted into an office for you. Dig in. Where did you put my briefcase?" he added.

He set his fork down after a few bites and made geometric patterns in the sauce with it. She recalled he ate like a dieting bird but looked like a starving monk. He was nervous about something.  
"You sound like there's something valuable in it." she pointed out. "Ed, for heaven's sake stop playing with your food. You need nourishment."  
"Paperwork for this property. Something, more accurately somethings else. It was part of why I went into the city. As for the food, I don't have much of an appetite. Too much is important tonight."  
"Nothing is as important as feeding you. No wonder Alec drinks so much. He worries about you."

"He also changes women more frequently than he changes his ties. Am I to blame for that too?" Ed curved his mouth into a suggestion of a crescent. "George, thank you. Take my plate away. I'm fine with coffee."  
"Angel Brisby sent over one of his lemon cakes. Perhaps you and the young lady would like a slice for your sweet?"  
"Satan in a bespoke suit, that's you, George, tempting me. All right. How is Angel?"  
"Still not handling his wife's death well. I think your suggestion to have him serve as the estate chaplain was masterly. Just the kind of responsibility he needed."  
"His wife would have said depression wasn't very Christian of him. I'm glad he took up baking after Saint Stephen's let him go." Ed frowned.  
"Not cricket of them at all. I am older than he is and I execute my duties well, don't I Sir?" the gentleman winked.  
"Beautifully is the word I'd use. Dana, you'll eventually meet Right Reverend Brisby he and George served together. You'll like the interfaith chapel. Good night, George. Thank you."  
"Do right by our Commander, young lady. Good night Sir."  
"Commander? Is he one of ours?" Scully inquired.  
"Not exactly. He knows who I am. When I inherited this estate, he was one of the old souls already here. I opened it to others because it was too costly and time consuming for me to run myself. I'll tell you about it later. Finished with your meal?"  
"I'm stuffed. You hardly ate. Dessert isn't exactly what you need right now. Protein would be better, vitamin supplements, your body has been taking a beating, you're opening yourself to falling ill, what self respecting doctor would. of course not! You left the hospital prematurely, didn't you? Pulled rank. Sneaked out. The escape artist aga..mffft!"  
"Good?" Ed Straker had forked cake into her mouth mid lecture. She glowered at him, licking frosting off her lips.  
"Did you just shut me up with cake?"  
"Didn't it work?" he teased.  
"You can't charm me out of my medical responsibility for you, just so we're clear on that." Scully grinned.  
"You have lemon frosting on your teeth, Doctor. Bad dental hygiene." Ed took her by the hand and led her to the settee by the fire.  
"Oh and feeding me sugar filled cake is just what the dentist ordered?" She snuggled into him. He looked into her eyes and gently stroked her hair.  
"You get more beautiful by the minute. You're perfect. Except for the non stop nagging me about my health. Alec does that. You don't want to take away his job security, do you?"  
"He has another part of his anatomy I'd like to take away for the whole ruse of you being dead."  
"I decided I didn't want you told after the whole goodbye thing." he pulled away from her, hurt, but she stopped him by kissing him.  
"Dana , did you just shut me up by kissing me?"  
"Did it work?"  
They chuckled in unison.  
"Dana, open my briefcase. It's all right, it's set on destruct negative."  
"What's in that red leather case?"  
"Maybe white roses?" Ed smiled. "Open it."  
"More like white petals, crushed. Oh my God!"  
"You see, I had a problem. I knew your ring size was six from Manjunath. I just didn't know what kind of ring you'd like as your engagement ring. So I bought two rose gold bands for our wedding, and bought a sample case of size six rings. Alec told me I'd gone crazy. He's probably right. But a Commander from the Air Force doesn't marry a Navy brat of a redheaded doctor everyday. Judging from your eyes rapidly becoming bigger than that pizza I threw away, I did well? "  
"What if I said I wanted to keep all of them?" Scully said, holding up a pearl and marquise cut diamond ring set in gold to the light from the crackling fire.  
"I'd sell more of the property, or give up golf. I'd sacrifice one way or the other. No wait, I'd give up eating for good. I'd have to. Do you like that one?"  
"Ed, tell me you really didn't buy the entire jewelry shop just so I could pick a ring. My God, are those real diamonds?"  
"A: I promised my mother I wouldn't lie so I can't help with that first part, and B: It's only Alec that gives his starlets cubic zirconia."  
"My father wouldn't believe this. "  
"Your father was Navy. He'd believe anything. Ow! Hitting me is a court martial offense."  
"Look at that emerald. It's absurdly huge. This is obscene."  
"Obscene comes on the honeymoon night." Ed said, trying to look innocent and not pulling it off.  
"All this and I haven't even said yes to that ridiculous proposal you made just seconds before Alec and Robin tried to kill you."  
"Turn me down and I swear I'll stuff you in the rubbish bin with the pizza."  
"Stop joking."  
"Trust me. I'm not joking. Okay, I'm joking. OW! Have you ever considered anger management.."  
"Shut up and ask me to marry you, Ed Straker."  
"Will you answer my unanswered cry? I've been lonely far too long. I can't be the perfect husband. Our jobs mean too much to us. Life won't always be easy. Marrying will mean more of a threat to us both. Before you let me put a ring on your finger, I have to be honest with you."  
"Oh God, Ed. You're frightening me. I think I just woke up from my dream."  
"Neither of us is dreaming. We must go hand in hand into this with eyes open." Ed told her solemnly.  
"Tell me."  
"Dana, I am an alien."  
"Nonsense. Stop thinking like that. You're you. The you I love."  
"No. I am not talking about the changes in my body. Look." He pulled the hat off. Long waves of platinum hair fell to his shoulders.  
"But you said.."  
"That they cut it? They did, Dana. It grew this length in the week I was in recovery. I didn't want people to think I was a freak so I wore the hat. Dana, that lorry killed me. "  
"Ed, you were never dead, do you mean your heart stopped? We stop hearts to do surgery all the time. Don't worry about it."  
"No. I died. They pronounced me dead on the scene. I left my body. I heard a voice. I finally understood what had happened to me when they sliced me open. It wasn"t an alien drug, it wasn't the aliens I knew, that Shado was created to stop. It was an entirely new species. The organic material in Mulder and Ambrose's head wasn't put there to control them. It was a colony of an advanced species that had been terrorized by our aliens for their restorative powers. They were held captive. They were forced to do things that they were utterly against. They entered my body when I was abducted and they saved my life. They hadn't joined with a human before. It took them some time to understand my body and restore it. One entered my own brain, and changed it. They are refugees, Dana. They want the same things I want. To stop the aliens. They entered Mulder

thinking he was an ally,but he was too incompatible because of his own fears. Ambrose became aware of them but used them to try and take over. They tried to enter Alec, but his terror kept them away. So they had one last chance to be understood when that lorry, that truck hit me. I died. They revealed themselves to me in my death. Dana, yes, you're a woman of science. But think. How could I survive being cut open, and having my vital organs stolen? Having my body crushed by that truck. Dana, I died. Somehow they came between me and my death. I am alien. I accept it. There is no going back for me. Will you go forward with me?"

"Ed, have you considered that all this is a hallucination brought on by the horrible trauma of being essentially autopsied alive?"  
"Then you're like Alec. This frightens you. With your partner you witnessed the unexplained, day in and day out. You saw the scans of my body, know that my insides were a nearly bloodless mass of unknown tissue in an empty cavity. Did I hallucinate that?"  
"No. As a surgeon I can't even begin to understand that."  
"Tell me. Did George appear normal to you?"  
"Your butler, yes, why?"  
"Dana, George died in World War II. Died and was buried on this property. I needed someone I could trust. They brought him back for me. The man he spoke about was my dear friend Stanley Mitchell Brisby, imprisoned with me in Vietnam, known as Angel because of his singing voice. His wife died recently from a stroke. He shot himself, she was everything to him. He literally could not go on without her. They saved him. He's always been a man of God. He told me that if he and George were given this second chance, then it was God's will. He said he always felt a sense that I was destined for something I wouldn't understand.

Faith, Dana. Eternal life. That's what these beings have given us. They had more than one opportunity to attack us were that their motivation. They have power over human death. How much more advanced could they be? Dana, I know you're frightened. I need you but I can't force you to stay. I'm beginning to acquire their abilities. I could send you back, without your memory, back to the X files, back to Mulder. I just don't want to give you up. I asked you this question before. Could you marry a dead man?"  
"Ed, I can't marry you under these circumstances." she told him. He involuntarily gasped.  
"Dear God. I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared for that. To have to let you go. No, my God, I can't. You can't understand how much I've given up, how much I've lost. God. I'm falling apart. I swore I wouldn't lose control."  
"Ed, you don't understand. Do you think I'd walk away now?"  
"I want your love not your pity nor your fear. " he wept, and it tore her heart to shreds to see him so forlorn and in pain.  
"Ed , oh my darling the only way I can know what this thing is as a forensic scientist, is for me to experience it too."  
Ed shook his head, wiping tears away.  
"Dana, it already is in you. When you went to see Mulder it transferred to you. You're just not ready to accept it. When you do, it will astound you. Is there a danger that I am simply deranged, insane if you will? Yes, as a scientist and a military man there is that possibility, there is that fear that again I am being manipulated by the aliens. As a man, I have faith. When I was aboard the UFO I cried, and that was what I thought at the time was merely another unanswered cry. A cry to not die alone with monsters multilating me. I prayed, or I cried out. Angel told me once that God didn't discriminate between the two. There are numerous times I didn't want nor need faith. Other times when I was expecting to perish, I prayed. As I did on that UFO. I felt peace. I prefer faith. It doesn't matter much if I'm delusional. It has meaning for me. I know you've had doubts in your own faith. I have too. My job doesn't leave me much time to kneel or genuflect. I'm a military man first, its in my soul."  
"Angel was probably right about you having a destiny. You've always seemed angelic, other worldly to me. I love you Ed. You didn't finish asking me to marry you." she smiled.  
He stood up, chose the ring she had first picked up to admire. He knelt.

Scully began to cry.  
Dad, can you see this? Are you happy for your little girl?

"Dana Scully, will you be my wife?" Ed asked.  
"Edward Straker, yes. Yes, yes, yes YES! Shit! Not now," Scully moaned. Her smartphone had rung.  
"It's probably Mayland needing you, I'll drive you there."  
"No, its Alec. For you."  
"Alec. Yes. Oh sorry, tonight was special so for once I turned the damn thing off. Yes. What? No Alec, I expected this. Yes, I'll tell her. Yes. No, I'll need some time to figure how to deal with this. Goodbye Alec."  
"What was that about?"  
"I'll have to limit you to one ring, Dana. I just lost my job. General Henderson called an emergency meeting of the IAC. He had me declared a security risk. I've been fired. I'm to turn myself in."  
"Over my dead body. He starts treating you like crap after fourteen years of service, he'll have to deal with me. Alec Freeman isn't taking the position that is rightfully yours. Henderson just hasn't gotten over you doing the job better than he ever could. Sure, you were friendly once, but he saw your situation as a way to get you out of there. We'll beat him together."  
"Dana, have you ever met Henderson?" Ed pointed out curiously.  
"Of course, I was..no I wasn't...but I saw you. In the colonel' s uniform. He was in a wheelchair. It was after the miracle escape. He's jealous, he's a threat, Ed. He doesn't want to only go after your job, he wants to go after your life!"  
"How do you know this, Miss Scientist?" he said with the intonation and the endearing smile that meant he was enjoying himself.  
"Oh my God. Are you suggesting that what happened to you after the abduction is happening to me? These periods of knowing things I never actually experienced, is this what I think it is?"  
"Dana, your concern for my well being seems to have triggered it. After all, you're trained to protecf, and heal, and nuture. Your love for me is cancelling out your fear of the situation. For me it was my sheer bloodymindedness, my will power. The alien creatures have finally found a conduit in which to talk to you."  
"Mulder wouldn't believe this. I really am turning into Wonder Woman. So much for his damn sarcasm. Come here, Ed Straker. I believe you were putting a ring on my finger?"  
"I'm marrying an Amazon? Ow! "  
He swept her into his arms. She could feel him trembling. She knew he never showed this fear, this uncertainty to anyone. For a moment she had a vision of someone trying to harm him, feelings of resentment and hate. He seemed to read her thoughts.  
"Yes. I feel it too. Fear. Wanting to hide from the darkness. Being young again. No, I always have had hunches, reliable ones, nothing like this. My father, Henderson, feelings of dread. This is one of the disadvantages of having the alien sensitivities. You'd be wide open to me broadcasting it. You're open to the feelings and needs of your patients. Even of Mulder. If he suffered, so did you, when I suffer so do you. But you got lost in your blind need to look after others. I'm here for you to draw strength from. I'm here for you, I love you. "

Dad, listen to him say things I longed to hear. Dad, you've got to help him. He's that young man, the Air Force captain in military intelligence you thought conducted himself like a Colonel, like a natural leader of men.

I can't lose him, Daddy. He's got to win.

The aliens who saved him can't prevent him from dying inside, in his soul. If Henderson turns his people against him, the very people he dedicated his whole life to protect, what will become of him? I love the child in in him and I love the man he became. But I can't let his cry go unanswered.

Daddy, please. Help me. Right now I'm all that he has. I'm scared.

I'm so scared for him, and fointellien Will I be scattering white roses over his grave?

Daddy, help us.


	14. Chapter 14

What was your name again?

Scully wasn't quite sure what had awakened her, then she rolled over, expecting to envelop him in her arms. The previous night she hadn't been able to stand the raw, jagged pain in his perfect features. He seemed to be expecting to be shot by a firing squad, with his only concern being that he keep his eyes open as the volley of bullets tore into tender pale flesh. They hadn't fought the longing for one another in their bodies, and it had ended in a refreshing sleep.  
He wasn't there, and fear jagged her already spent nerves. Even when she found him, the wanted relief didn't come. He hadn't bothered to hide his nakedness from their desperate lovemaking. He was somehow fragile looking, despite of the slim, lightly muscled body covered with fine, blond hairs. His back was to her.  
"Judas." he said simply, without turning around. "Damn Judas."  
"Ed, what's wrong?"  
"I'm going to be arrested. Henderson has been waiting to pull me out of the position he thinks should have been his. If he can make the case that I survived my wounds because I'm a tool for the aliens, they can have me shot for treason. "  
"Not while I'm breathing. Alec won't allow anything to happen to you. Come on, put some clothes on, eat breakfast. Everything will turn out all right." She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the forehead.  
"They're gone, Dana. The aliens. I've been a part of them and them a part of me for so long that I can't bear it."  
"You have me. You will always have me."  
"You don't know that. Hold me a while. I'm scared, I admit it. If you ever repeat that confession, I'll have you shot."  
"Men." she rolled her eyes. He smiled at her and immediately she forgot how dismal she felt. He was so damn magnificent looking. "How do pancakes sound to you this morning? French toast? Eggs?" he offered. He shoved his brooding, fear and dread aside as if it were nothing but a file folder. She could still read the distress buried in his eyes.  
"I have a craving for Eggs Straker."  
"Women. Always so predictable. Ruled by their hormones .Ulp!"  
"I thought so." Her hands had wandered to his genitals. "and you have the nerve to say I'm controlled by my hormones? Ed, put me down."  
"I will when I'm through with you. I need you to be obscene and not heard."  
"Is this a side of you that your friend Alec knows about, Commander?"  
"He taught me all I know."  
Dana Scully's last conscious, rational thought was that the man exploring her had to have studied anatomy at some time or another. When she finally could think again, he was a blur, escaping into the bathroom. Soon she could hear running water.  
"Will you call me?" she shouted. She heard him chuckle in that throaty way he had.  
"Sure! By the way, what was your name again?" He inquired boyishly.  
"You don't have to worry about Henderson killing you. I'll be killing you long before he does."  
His response was lost in the sound and rhythm of the water. If Henderson tries to kill you I'll kill him, she thought. To hell with do no harm.  



	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 All is not what it seems to be, Commander

Shado HQ, conference room

Dana Scully had spent most of her life being dedicated to science. There wasn't much room in her existence for the realm of the fantastical. That didn't change how she percieved Edward Straker, standing like an ivory column in chains in the middle of the Shado conference room, looking like a knight in shining armor. The stark ivory suit with its Nehru collar matched the look of defiance on Straker's face. All eyes were on him, especially Alec Freeman's, and the sight of his closest friend in nothing less than shackles made him squirm in spirit if not in reality.  
The space was filled with Shado operatives, so much so that there was standing room only in the back of the room the trial was being held in. Alec was on his feet, defying Henderson's instruction to be seated, and Henderson hadn't bothered with asking Straker. Henderson seemed uncharacteristically nervous, as if he were a culprit who had farted in the sanctity of a church. Nobody there seemed to be eager to watch the proceedings. Except for Dr. Jackson (an alias if she'd ever heard one!) who had the usual almost perverted interest in Straker's behavior under fire. Jackson sat next to Henderson, and she feverently wished the ceiling would fall on their heads. Juvenile, but they were dead bent on harming Straker. Ed obviously expected it, but didn't seem nervous. It was almost as if it was actually Henderson in the handcuffs they'd forced on her man. Her man. Terrifying yet so pleasurable to be certain that the Shado Commander loved her. Loved her fully and simply.  
What a contrast to Mulder, whom she had once based her whole life around. She had stopped being Dana, and had become good old Scully, there for Mulder and his obssession with the X files to make use of. How extraordinary to realize how unhappy those years had made her. Her constant acceptance of his cracks about her height, and his disappearing whenever he wanted, his apparent lack of understanding what it meant to be a partner.  
Scully looked down at her pearl and emerald engagement ring. Partner. Ed would be her partner for life.  
They'd driven in his impressive Shado car to the studio, and she'd jokingly remarked about him being surrounded by beautiful girls from his cover job as an movie executive. Instead of laughing, he'd impaled her with a look of seriousness. He'd spoken so gently to her, every word etched on her heart.  
Dana, the movie business is all facade, all smoke and mirrors. You're real to me. I don't give my heart easily. You should trust that when I make my vows to you once we get past this distasteful interlude, I know what a vow is. Remember that, no matter what happens. You deserve to be loved. I'm making it my business and my pleasure to love you.  
He'd meant every word he uttered. It had taken her breath away. She looked up at him. He'd asked her to remember that she now worked for him, was his equal in her new position as chief of staff at Shado's new northern h.q. working as head of staff in its medical center. He'd asked her to understand that even though she was a civilian, one of only a handful of operatives that weren't connected to the military, she still needed to acknowledge the decorum of the court martial. It took every bit of discipline that she possessed as an Federal agent to not scream at them for threatening Ed. Ed looked directly at Henderson, eyes nothing short of blazing, accusatory, defiant. Blue swords piercing the older man who once had been his friend. "We are here to determine whether Commander Straker is guilty of treason. Commander, perhaps you would care to explain why you stand there when your medical analysis reveals you are no longer human?" Jackson hissed. God she despised him! Did Ed really think she could just sit and allow these morons to attack him? Anyone with half a brain knew Henderson was out for blood!  
"That's rich, Jackson. I've heard people question your humanity before too, but you're not in handcuffs." Alec snapped.  
Jackson merely grinned.  
"Colonel Freeman, you're out of line. If you wish to make a statement, wait for your turn." Henderson growled with a twitch of his bushy eyebrows.  
"Or what? I'll be arrested too? That man has given a good piece of his life in dedication to keeping Earth safe, and you have him treated like a common prisoner. Are you enjoying gloating over having Straker where you want him?" Alec accused.  
"I'm warning you, Colonel."  
"No."  
The single word fired like a deadly slug from a pistol. Ed Straker could read a newspaper headline and it would sound menacing, Scully thought. She waited.  
"Now look here, Straker." Henderson managed to croak out, but there was no escape from Straker's voice and steady stare.  
"You threaten my second in command one more time and I'll make the case that you've abused your authority. My loyalty is in question, not his. I am on trial, not he. Now let's skip the formalities and go straight to the heart of this matter. Am I a threat to Shado? The answer is no, General. You know that. I know that. Everyone here knows that. Our job is to protect the earth from alien attack, and every minute we sit here arguing about how I survived my abduction is a minute better spent doing the jobs we were all trained for. Your friend Jackson there saw me right after I recovered enough to answer questions. His report doesn't indicate in any way that I am a threat. So the possibility that you had me arrested and are putting me on trial as merely a twisted way to humilate me for taking the job that would have normally been yours, and not only doing it, but doing it better than you would is a damn probable theory, General."  
"That's enough, Straker!"  
Hit a nerve, Scully thought appreciatively. That's my Ed.  
"If I could make a statement, an observation, Commander?"  
"That's why you're on my payroll, Jackson."  
Jackson grinned.  
"All is not what it seems to be, Commander. There seem to be quite a few people who for some reason or another were compelled to attend this meeting. Perhaps you have a theory as to why that is, Commander?"  
"Reading minds isn't among my military accomplishments, Doctor."  
"Then perhaps I should ask them the question directly?"  
"You're asking the wrong person. " Alec said. "As Ed's second in command, I know their purpose in attending this obscene gathering."  
"Do enlighten us, Colonel Freeman." Jackson hissed again.  
"They have abandoned their duties, left their posts, maybe for good."  
Straker for the first time lost his composure.  
"What?You can't be serious, Alec! Why?" he demanded.  
"If Henderson's little kangaroo court here hangs you, and you lose your position, they all will walk out, every last man and woman. They've all signed statements to that effect. I will sign their collective letters of resignation and join them. There is no Shado without Edward Straker."  
"Damn it, no. That would leave Earth defenseless. No. Look Henderson, if you want me gone, either put a bullet in my head or give me the amnesia shot, it doesn't matter. You win. We need these people. I'm not worth losing their manpower. Shado needs to continue, with me or without me. It's imperative they stay."  
"General Henderson, I recommend this trial be adjourned and Commander Straker be released straightaway." Jackson said. "Commander Straker's response demonstrates his innocence."  
"I'm not about to allow this little drama of loyality interfere with my-"  
"Hostility toward the man you once respected and trusted, General? " Ed interrupted him. Henderson evaded the accusation.  
"Straker, you yourself reported coming into contact with entities which were clearly not the aliens that had abducted you."  
"Aliens who somehow used their advanced science to keep me alive despite having my major organs cut out of me as if I were no more than a human carcass, yes. They left me, I was aware of it this morning. Those same aliens if they so wished could conquer Earth without difficulty, yet they too hate our enemies but showed concern and compassion and understanding of my predictament. They felt it necessary that I live. Compassion, General. A human quality."  
"All very logical, General. I will add that when presented with the idea that personnel would abandon Shado to show their loyality for him, Commander Straker was not triumphant as you might expect a traitor to be. He was appaled and concerned. I propose to you that no matter what his physical condition is, his psychological motivation remains the same. His fidelity to the cause remains the same. He is a dedicated and highly decorated member of your Air Force. I also remind you that relieving him of his command would directly threaten the balance Shado has established between itself and the aliens determined to invade Earth. Such an act would indicate that your own loyality is in question, General. Not an ideal position to be in, is it?" Jackson told the General.  
"Jackson, I may have been wrong about you." Alec grinned.  
"Perhaps I am merely just as intimidated about the idea of Shado coming to an end as we all are, and unlike your affection for your friend, my motivation was simply self preservation."  
"No, I was right all along. You're slimy." Alec complained.  
Straker chuckled at Alec's response then remembered his situation was still precarious.  
"Well, General? "  
"My suspicion of you may have been premature. I bring this meeting to a close and find you innocent of charges, but remember, I'll been keeping an eye on you."  
Henderson grumbled.  
Straker raised his hands in the air. His handcuffs dangled from one wrist, he'd freed himself. He nonchalantly removed the handcuff, freeing humself completely. Henderson's jaw dropped. He left, more irritated than ever. Laughter came from the onlookers. Straker gave them a look and cut it off short. He did give a curt nod of thanks and they smiled, forming a line to abandon the room. Finally only Straker and Alec and Scully were left. Ed dropped wearily into a nearby chair. Scully kissed him in relief. He beamed at her.  
"When did you become Houdini, Ed?" Alec wanted to know.  
"I expanded my hand when they clipped the handcuffs on, which gave me enough room to slip my hands out after I relaxed them. Standard magician's practice. Speaking of magician, do I have you to thank for getting enough people to consider leaving Shado if I had been found guilty?"  
"Maybe, but your operatives had to go along with the plan. You're the one who inspires loyality in your men and women Ed." Alec declared.  
"I'm fortunate to have you two in my life." Ed smiled.  
"Coffee's on me, gentlemen." Scully offered.  
"Real coffee, not that swill they serve here at h.q.?" Alec said.  
"Real stuff, Alec. You deserve it for keeping Ed safe."  
"Caffeine is caffeine. " Ed pointed out.  
"This from Mr. Picky About Everything?" Scully teased him.  
"Aren't you supposed to wait until I actually marry you before the nagging wife period commences?" Ed wondered.  
"Speaking of wife, is that an engagement ring she's wearing or a car headlight?" Alec inquired.  
"It would probably cost more than the car I stole it off of if it was actually genuine." Ed replied playfully.  
"I should have known it wasn't real." Scully pretended to pout. Ed just winked at her.  
Dad, I don't think its possible to be anymore happier than this. Can you see your Starbuck from whereever you are? Dad, he's the most wonderful man. Scully thought, trying not to cry as Ed took her hand.

Somewhere in Washington DC Hotel Room Scully, this so called FBI agent thinks I don't know she's a fake. I slipped a drug into her cocktail tonight, and in a few minutes she'll be singing like the proverbial canary. I'll find out where Straker's got you, and I'll bring you back or my name isn't Spooky Mulder. You belong with me. Only me.

The End There will be a sequel to this story because I like the Straker Scully ship pairing, and yes, this version of Mulder is determined to screw up her life yet again. :-D


End file.
